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Adams  (William).    The  Elements  of  Chi 
A  Treatise  upon  Moral  Philosophy  and  Prat 
cloth,  pp.  379.     «  ^  fr    I  o  j(\?\0  Phil.  11 

A  WORK  ON  Amy  JENriTEED  CnRISTIAN  SCIENCE,  PUBLISHED 
TWENTY-ONE  YEARS  PRIOR  TO  MRS.  EDDY'S  FIRST  PUBLICA- 
TION AND  TWELVE  YEARS  PRIOR  TO  HER  DISCOVERY  OF  CHRIS- 
TIAN Science. 


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THE 


ELEMENTS  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 


A  TREATISE  UPON 


MOEAL  PHILOSOPHY  AND  PEACTICE. 


BY  WILLIAM  ADAMS,  D.D., 

rBESBYIEft  or  IHX  PBOnSTAOT  EPISOOFAI,  CHXJBCH,  m  TH£  DIOCESE  OF  WISCONSIN. 

THIBD  'EDirum,  BEVISEI). 


"  All  things  are  double  one  against  another,  and  God  hath  made  nothing  imper- 
fect."—Jesds,  Son  of  Sihach. 

"Man's  perfection  is  not  by  himself,  nor  by  any  thing  in  or  of  himself,  but  by  that 
which  is  to  him  external." 


PHILADELPHIA : 

H.  HOOKER,  CORNER  OF  CHESTNUT  AND  EIGHTH  STREETS. 

1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 

WILLIAM    ADAMS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  and  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PREFACE. 


Nattjralists  tell  us  that  the  oak  has  a  northern  circle,  beyond  which 
it  does  not  grow.  It  has  also  a  limit  that  is  set  for  it  towards  the  south. 
Thus  it  has  a  region,  marked  out  by  definite  limits,  upon  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  within  which  it  grows,  and  out  of  which  it  cannot  live.  In 
the  language  of  natural  science,  this  is  called  its  Habitat.  Within  that 
habitat  it  lives,  varied  in  vigor  and  appearance  according  to  circum- 
stances. The  same  tree,  in  sheltered  valleys,  shoots  up  a  taller  and 
more  slender  stem  than  the  oak  that  braves  the  storm  upon  the  mount- 
ain-side. The  timber  also  of  that  oak,  that  has  grown  slowly  in  the 
clefts  of  the  rock,  has  a  roughness  and  a  knotty  strength  that  is  never 
found  in  that  which  has  started  up  rapidly  from  rich  and  cultivated 
soils.  All  these  differences,  and  a  thousand  more,  may  be  produced, 
and  exist  in  oaks  that  have  come  from  acorns  of  the  same  parent-tree. 

To  explain  this,  we  know  that  all  of  these  trees  had,  each  of  them,  a 
constitution,  a  germ  of  vegetable  life  peculiar  to  the  oak,  suited  to  take 
up  supplies  from  external  things,  and  to  grow  thereby,  because  it  is  a 
life. 

To  use  the  example  again, — wherever  the  tree  grows,  in  the  North  or 
the  South,  in  the  valley  or  upon  the  mountains,  from  the  cleftod  rock 
or  in  the  fertile  plains, — there,  amidst  all  variety  of  circumstance,  the 
constitution  is  the  same, — if  the  tree  is  anywhere  capable  of  living,  it  is 
as  an  oak  that  it  lives,  and  not  as  any  other  tree.  Position  modifies, 
hut  never  wholly  destroys  or  wholly  changes  the  nature. 

The  vigor  of  the  tree,  individually  considered,  its  state  and  condi- 
tion, are  determined  by  these  two  elements,  Nature  and  Position, — and 
3 


4  PREFACE. 

infinite  varieties  are  produced  in  individuals,  but  the  one  element  never 
wholly  overcomes  the  other, — Position  never  entirely  changes  Nature,— 
Nature  never  wholly  conquers  Position.  We  have  been  so  careful  in 
laying  out  precisely,  and  illustrating  this  example,  that  our  readers  may 
clearly  see,  that  wherever  there  exists  organized  life,  then,  if  we  would 
examine  the  state  of  the  individual  existence,  these  two  elements  must 
always  be  taken  into  account, — first,  Nature,  and  secondly  Position. 

So  it  is  with  all  organized  life.  The  Horse,  in  the  dry  deserts  of 
Arabia,  in  the  damp  climate  and  succulent  pastures  of  Holland  and 
Flanders,  upon  the  high  Pampas  of  South  America,  and  again,  upon  our 
South-western  Prairies, — in  all  these  cases,  the  animals  are  very  different. 
And  in  them,  all  the  variety  can  be  shown  to  have  arisen  from  Position. 
The  Nature  can  be  proved  to  be  the  same  in  all,  and  the  circumstances 
even  be  shown,  in  each  particular  case,  tnat  have  modified  it  into  such 
very  different  forms. 

And  upon  this  principle,  all  our  researches  into  the  nature  of  the  ani- 
mals are  founded.  We  examine  the  Nature  first, — that  is,  the  organization 
in  its  various  faculties  and  organs,  its  elements,  powers,  and  constituent 
principles.  Then  we  examine  its  Position, — the  relation,  that  is,  of  all 
these  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country  in  which  it  dwells, — as  to 
climate,  and  soil,  and  natural  features,  such  as  mountains  and  rivers, 
and  their  productions,  animal,  mineral  and  vegetable.  And  often,  when 
in  the  Nature  we  have  seen  organs  and  faculties,  the  uses  of  which  we 
could  not  at  once  discern,  the  consideration  of  Position  shall  at  once 
flash  light  upon  these  problems,  and  again  the  facts  of  Nature  evince  the 
causes  of  Position.  Nay,  stranger  still  than  this, — it  has  often  hap- 
pened in  the  case  of  animals  that  have  been  for  ages  tamed  to  the  use 
of  man,  that  the  circumstances,  which  in  the  original  habitat  surrounded 
them,  have  explained  facts  of  their  natural  action  that  seemed  unac- 
countable to  them  who  had  seen  them  only  as  tame.  The  law  of  Nature 
and  Position  is  an  universal  one,  and  is  the  foundation  of  all  true 
philosophy  in  reference  to  organized  animal  life. 

To  extend  the  same  principle  upward  to  the  Life  of  Man,  to  apply  it 
to  his  Moral  Being,  is  the  object  of  this  book.  It  is,  as  the  reader  may 
Boe,  the  principle  of  the  motto,  that  I  have  chosen  from  Ecclesiasticus 
and  placed  upon  my  title-page,  that  says,  "  All  things  are  double,  one 


PREFACE.  9 

against  another,  and  there  is  nothing  imperfect."  In  other  words,  that 
there  is  no  finite  being  that  in  itself  has  its  perfection ;  but  only  in 
being  compared  with  a  second  can  it  be  perfectly  understood, — only  in 
being  united  with  another,  can  it  perfectly  fulfill  its  appointed  ends, — 
only  in  obtaining  from  some  other,  that  which  it  has  not  in  itself,  can  it 
be  perfect.  This  principle  of  Twofoldness,  any  thinking  man  shall, 
upon  calm  and  deep  reflection,  see  to  run  through  the  world  of  created 
life.  He  shall  see  it,  in  reference  to  man,  to  be  true  in  the  words  of 
my  second  motto,  that  "  Man's  perfection  is  not  hy  himself,  nor  by  any- 
thing in  or  of  himself,  but  by  that  which  is  to  him  external."  The  Law 
of  Duality,  or  to  use  a  better  word,  before  employed,  of  Twofoldness, 
extends  to  man  as  considered  in  every  relation,  as  in  the  Home,  in  the 
Nation,  in  the  Church, — as  in  his  relation  to  External  Nature,  to  his 
brother  men,  and  to  his  Almighty  Creator  and  Father. 

The  application  of  this  principle  to  the  moral  nature  of  man,  will  be 
found  to  be  the  leading  idea  of  this  treatise,  that  from  which  all  its 
other  principles  flow, — that  in  whose  light,  all  the  phenomena  of  our 
Moral  Being  are  viewed,  and  by  which  they  are  explained. 

We  take  it  for  granted  herein,  that  man  has  a  Moral  Nature  and  con- 
stitution, as  well  as  an  animal  and  intellectual  being ;  and  that  to  man 
as  a  moral  being  there  are  external  facts  and  institutions  that  correspond 
to  this  moral  nature.  This  treatise  seeks  to  discover,  define,  and  specify 
distinctly,  the  various  faculties  of  the  moral  constitution  of  man,  and  so 
to  classify  them  that  they  may  assume  a  definite,  scientific,  and  prac- 
tical form.  And  to  do  this,  it  considers  them  in  the  two-fold  point  of 
view,  as  in  themselves  first,  and  secondly,  their  relation  to  those  other 
external  fixed  facts,  which  bear  upon  Moral  Life,  as  the  external  cir- 
cumstances of  physical  nature  do  upon  the  powers  of  vegetable  or  animal 
existence.  This,  as  I  have  said,  is  my  leading  principle,  and  in  refer- 
ence to  this  it  is,  that  I  define  Ethics  to  be  "  the  Science  of  Man's 
Nature  and  Position." 

And  I  can  appeal  to  the  Self-knowledge  of  every  thoughtful  man  for 
the  proof  of  the  position  I  assume,  that  man  is  a  being  that  has  a  Moral 
Constitution,  composed  of  clear  and  definite  elements, — and  that  this 
Moral  Nature  answers  to,  and  is  to  be  explained  by  moral  influences 
and  facts  external  to  us.     That  this  is  the  case  with  man  considered  as 


0  PREFACE. 

3  race  and  as  an  individual,  and  that  his  moral  growth  depends  upon 
these  two  conditions. 

And  he  that  shall  go  with  me  through  this  treatise,  I  hope  will  find 
that  moral  science  is  not  without  a  deep  interest.  For  surely,  each 
man  in  this  world  who  knows  that  he  is  endowed  with  a  Moral  Nature, 
and  is  placed  amidst  circumstances,  all  of  which  may  have  a  moral  effect, 
must  think  the  question  to  be  deeply  interesting,  "  How  shall  I  so  culti- 
vate this  my  Nature,  and  so  employ  this  my  Position,  as  to  arrive  at 
the  fullest  maturity  and  completeness  of  my  moral  being,  that  I  am 
capable  of?" 

This  is  the  question  the  author  attempts  to  answer  in  this  book,  as  a 
matter  both  of  science,  and  also  of  practical  action  and  guidance. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 


HUMAN   NATUBE. 


Chaptek  I. .IS 

Is  man's  nature  '  good  or  evil'  ? — There  is  a  nature  perfectly  indifferent  as  to  good  or 
evil. — It  is  that  of  the  brutes,  not  of  man. — Man's  nature  is  not  partly  good  and  partly 
evil. — It  is  not  essentially  evil. — This  proved  by  the  monstrous  conclusions  which  would 
follow. — ^It  is  then  essentially  a  nature  good  in  itself,  not  eml  in  iUelf—but  fallen. 

Chapteb  n. 22 

What  is  the  nature  of  Good  and  Evil? — The  highest  good,  and  the  means  of  dis- 
covering it. 

Chapter  HI. 29 

God  the  Supreme  Good,  and  the  only  Standard  of  Good. — It  must  have  been  so  to 
Christ  and  to  Adam. — The  case  of  Adam. — Adam's  Moral  Perfection — first,  by  his  nature 
— secondly,  by  the  gift  of  the  Presence  of  God,  as  a  Supreme  Rule  actually.  Our  fallen 
nature  differs,  first,  in  the  withdrawal  of  that  gift;  secondly,  in  disturbance  and  insubor- 
dination of  faculties.  Still,  as  a  matter  of  each  man's  experience,  and  also  of  History, 
God  is  the  Law  and  Standard  of  Moral  Good  to  the  Natural  Man. 

Chapter  IV. .40 

God  has  external  means  whereby  he  conveys  His  Knowledge  unto  Man. — 1.  External 
Nature.  2dly.  Society. — The  operation  of  External  nature  upon  man's  moral  being 
explained. — The  operation  of  Society  is  two-fold — first,  of  Law ;  second,  of  traditional 
knowledge  or  Opinion,  whereof  Society  is  a  channel. 

Chaftbb  v. 66 

Society  brings  to  all  men  the  knowledge  of  Good,  and  the  Rule  of  it. — Man's  nature 
yearns  toward  it,  being  good;  but  it  finds  itself  unable — it  is  driven  then,  inwardly  for 
aids — finds  within.  Conscience,  Reaspn,  the  Heart,  the  Will,  powers  that  aid  us. — From 
these  arise  four  philosophies,  Socratic,  Platonic,  Epicurean,  Stoic. — These  powers  the 
sources  of  moral  progress. — Yet  moral  perfection  by  nature  unattainable. — Original  Sin. 
— Answer  to  the  question,  "  How  man  does  evil  although  his  nature  is  good  ?" — Differ 
ence  between  Mental  or  Physical  and  Moral  inability. — Original  Sin  is  primarily  in  the 
incapacity  of  the  moral  or  Governing  Powers. 

7 


8  CONTENTS. 

Chaftbb  VI. 66 

There  are  in  human  nature,  Governing  Powers  and  Powers  Subordinate. — No  powers 
in  human  nature  essentially  evU. — Anger  analyzed  as  a  proof  of  this  assertion. — Evil 
action  comes  from  the  weakness  of  the  Governing  Powers,  not  the  strength  of  Passions. 
— Laws  of  the  Governing  Powers. — 1st,  Governing  Powers  should  govern — Subordinate 
Powers  only  subordinately  act. — Dangers  from  breach  of  this  first  law. — 2d,  They  should 
act  always,  others  only  intermittingly. — 3d,  They  govern  according  to  a  Law.  This  is 
the  Law  of  God,  which  is  also  the  Law  of  the  harmony  of  man's  nature. — The  relation 
of  moral  to  mental  power. 


BOOK  II. 

THE    CONSCIENCE. 


Chapteb  L 77 

Of  Conscience. — Mistakes  with  regard  to  it. — What  it  is  not. — It  is  the  sense  of  respon- 
sibility.— Socrates  and  Pythagoras. — The  action  of  Conscience  is,  1st,  Prohibiting,  2d, 
Recording,  3d,  Prophetic. —  The  Prohibiting  office  of  Conscience  considered.  —  The 
Recording  Conscience. — The  books  that  shall  be  opened. — The  true  solution  of  the  facts 
of  Conscience  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit. — Conscience  in  us  is  not  the  Holy  Spirit, 
but  the  ear  that  listens  to  His  voice. — It  is  at  once  infallible  and  fallible. 

Chaptee  n. 91 

The  value  of  Conscience. — Our  position  in  consequence  of  it. — An  examination  of  it 
in  action,  as,  1st,  Withholding;  2d,  Recording;  3d,  Prophesying. — The  emotions  that 
are  sanctions  to  it,  1st,  Moral  Restlessness;  2d,  Shame;  3d,  Fear. — The  mark  upon  the 
Nature,  1st,  the  Stain;  2d,  the  Guilt. — Conscience  is  not  properly  a  "judge,"  nor  the 
pain  from  it  properly  "  punishment." 

Chapteb  in. 104 

The  deficiencies  of  the  Conscience  and  its  laws  deduced  from  its  nature. — The  defi- 
ciencies of  Conscience, — the  various  kinds  classified  and  enumerated. — Its  Laws  are 
three  :  First,  of  Obedience, — Examination  of  this  law, — Practical  inferences  from  this 
law. — 2d  Law  of  Conscience,  Permanence. — Its  nature  and  eficcts. — By  means  of  this 
second  law  all  passions  can  be  resisted,  not  otherwise. — Reason  of  sudden  and  unexpected 
moral  falls. — Besetting  sins,  or  obstacles  to  moral  progress. — 3d  Law  of  Conscience,  The 
law  of  Subordination;  that  is,  "while  it  rules  us,  itself  must  be  ruled."  The  rule  of 
Conscience  is  the  law  of  God. — Evils  that  arise  from  ignorance  of  this  law. — Morality  is 
eternal  and  immutable. — Scruples  of  Conscience. — Explanation  of  their  nature,  aud  how 
to  treat  them. 

Chapteb  IV 119 

The  facts  of  Conscience  render  Natural  Religion  possible — and  the  facts  of  Revealed 
Religion  perfect  Conscience.— In  whom  the  Conscience  is  perfect — Conscience  cannot 
pardon. — ^It  leads  us  towards  the  Atonement  of  Christ. 

Note  upon  the  Practical  nature  of  Justification  in  its  connection  with  the  Con- 
science.   126 


CONTENTS.  9 


BOOK  III. 

THE    SPIRITUAL   REASON. 

Chapter  I. 129 

First  reasoning  is  not  Reason,  this  illustrated. — The  composition  of  human  nature  is 
not  double,  but  triple. — Man  having  an  Animal  Mind,  and  a  Spirit,  these  faculties  in  him 
correspond  to  two  worlds — the  world  of  the  Seen  and  that  of  the  Unseen.  Hence  two 
reasoning  powers — the  "  Animal  Mind  "  and  Spiritual  Reason. — Moral  ideas  are  received 
from  Society  hy  the  Reason. — All  ideas  of  which  it  may  be  said,  "  God  is,"  are  of  it, — a 
remark  in  reference  to  our  future  state  and  the  grounds  of  oiir  perpetual  progress  in  it 
— The  question  of  innate  ideas. 

Chapter  H. 142 

The  Spiritual  Reason. — Its  Modes. — 1st.  Moral  Perception;  2d.  Moral  Feeling;  3d. 
Moral  Principle. — These  established  and  illustrated. — Mental  cultivation  is  different  from 
moral,  and  cultivation  peculiarly  moral  is  necessary. — Is  ever  the  divine  Spiritual  Rea- 
son wholly  undeveloped  ? — Answered  in  the  afltenative. — The  Reason  may  be  developed 
consciously  and  unconsciously. 

Chaptek  in. 151 

There  are  two  states,  one  of  Consciousness  another  of  Unconsciousness. — To  exhaust 
man's  Consciousness  is  not  to  know  all  his  nature. — Unconscious  teaching  of  moral  truth 
exemplified. — Moral  application  of  this  and  grounds  of  it. — The  Reason  may  receive 
Spiritual  teaching  from  Spiritual  beings  unconsciously. — Cultivation  of  the  Reason  pro- 
duces, first,  Moral  Harmony;  secondly.  Moral  Progress. — Moral  teaching  of  Parents. — 
Viva  voce  teaching,  its  power. — The  Spiritual  Reason  awakes  before  the  Mental  Power 
is  ripe. — Spiritual  truth  may  become  a  family  inheritance. — Application  to  Parents  and 
to  Children  — Cultivation  of  the  Reason  in  ourselves. — Perfection  of  the  Reason. 

Chapter  IV. 165 

The  highest  law  of  Reason  is  not  Nature,  nor  the  law  of  the  Family,  or  of  the  Nation, 
but  the  Faith  of  Christ, — and  this  in  a  three-fold  view. — 1st,  as  written;  2ndly,  as 
enforced  hy  the  Church  and  in  the  Church ;  3dly,  as  dwelling  in  the  hearts  of  the  Sancti- 
fied.— Other  practical  inferences. — The  source  of  fanaticism  is  in  denying  its  food  to  this 
faculty. — Practical  conclusions. — Exhortation  to  those  who  are  the  teachers  of  this 
faculty  to  teach  without  fear. 


10  CONTENTS. 


BOOK  IV. 

THE   HEART    OR   AFFECTIONS. 

Chapter  L 176 

Heart  or  Affections. — Its  meaning. — Towards  Persons. — Appetites  and  Desires  towards 
Things. — It  is  towards  Persons  in  Society. — Society  in  reference  to  this  Power  is  a 
School  of  Love. — Errors  that  may  be  avoided  by  this  consideration. — Use  of  Instinct  in 
Animals. — Moral  Principle  and  Rule  of  the  Affections  deducible  from  this. — What  is 
**  Nobleness  "  of  Heart,  and  what  Meanness. 

Chaftbb  n. 187 

Sympathy. — Two  kinds. — Passive  and  Active. — Passive  Sympathy,  the  sense  of  har- 
mony of  feeling  with  others. — Illustrations  of  it  and  its  uses. — A  moral  precept  founded 
npon  it. — Second  kind  of  Sympathy,  the  active  power  of  entering  voluntarily  into  the 
feelings  of  others. — It  is  vicarious. — Misery  is  in  this  world  more  than  happiness  for  man 
unprotected. — But  Society  in  all  its  forms  is  defensive  against  misery. — We  sympathize 
more  with  sorrow  than  joy. — Hence  its  uses  manifest. — SjTnpathy  in  a  great  measure 
voluntary. — Natural  and  acquired  deficiency  of  this  affection. — Hardheartedness. — Its 
natural  punishments. — Sentimentalism  a  disease  of  the  Sympathy. — Rousseau. — Law  of 
sympathy. — Moral  conclusions  from  this  arising. 

Chapter  HI.    204 

Habit;  Active  and  Passive. — Passage  from  Butler  quoted,  and  practically  applied. — 
Affectation. — Sentimentalism. — Unreality,  or  Romance. — Day-dreaming. — Remedies  for 
these  diseases  of  the  Moral  Nature. 

Chapter  IV. 221 

From  the  Heart  proceeds  the  greatest  Evil. — Cause  of  this,  Original  Sin. — Effects :  1st, 
UncontroUedness,  or  Self-will;  2d,  Selfishness;  3d,  Sensuality. — Uncoutrolledness  dis- 
cussed.— The  Passions. — Selfishness. — Paley's  Theory  discussed  and  refuted. — Unselfish- 
ness.— Annihilation  of  self. — Sensuality. — There  is  a  threefold  instinct  to  guide  Man :  of 
the  Spirit;  the  Mind;  the  Body;  1st,  the  Spiritual  Powers;  2d,  the  Desire  of  Having. — 
The  nature  and  origin  of  Property,  and  the  immorality  of  its  assailants. — 3d,  Pleasure 
«nd  Pain;  uses  of  these  last. — "  Good  and  Evil"  is  not  determined  by  "  Pleasure  and 
Pain." — Systematic  Sensuality. — The  Christian  Home  alone  cures  these  three  faults. 

Chapter  V. 241 

The  Body — it  is  not  evil — but  it  is  affected,  first,  by  Self-will,  Selfishness  and  Sensu- 
ality. Second,  by  death  and  disease  entering  the  frame,  and  by  the  loss  of  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Life.  Third,  by  weakness  of  those  mental  powers  that  remain,  and  by  total 
loss  of  others. — False  imaginations  about  a  future  state  recounted  and  reproved,  and  true 
ideas  in  their  stead. — Our  "  body  "  is  not  that  of  brutes,  and  thereby  contemptible,  but 
is  to  be  reverenced;  and  of  this  the  reason  is,  that  the  Word  assumed  Flesh,  was  bom, 
lived  and  died  as  man — And  is  now  as  Man  upon  the  throne  of  heaven. 

Chapter  VL 254 

The  nature  of  man  has,  1st,  a  capacity  of  life  through  the  Word  Incarnate ;  2d,  of 
Receiving  His  Body  and  Blood;  3d,  of  the  Indwelling  of  the  Spirit. — Love  is  the  highest 
Christian  state. — The  Eucharist  is  hence  a  school  of  Works  and  Love. 


CONTENTS.  11 


BOOK  V. 


THE   HOME    AND    ITS    AFFECTIONS. 


Cbaptbb  I. 265 

Society — of  Divine  institution — Coeval  with  man. — Man's  nature  answering  to  it,  and 
it  answering  to  man's  nature. — The  fiction  of  a  Social  Contract  examined  and  refuted. 

Chapter  n. 270 

The  Family  always  existent. — The  Home,  its  realization  in  Space  and  Time. — Heathen 
notions  of  its  institution. — The  feeling  that  the  Law  makes  it. — Man's  nature. — Nature 
of  Society,  and  the  express  Law  of  God. — These,  not  mere  legislation  cause  it — Pretty 
fables  about  marriage. — Natural  feeling  of  Unity. — Doctrine  of  the  Roman  Law. — Com- 
mon Law  Doctrine. — Doctrine  of  the  Scriptures. — Conclusions :  1st,  Law  does  not  make 
marriage;  2d,  Marriage  is  no  Sacrament,  but  a  mystery;  3d,  All  bound  to  marriage; 
except,  first,  it  be  wrong  for  them  to  marry ;  secondly,  for  a  religious  motive  sake. 

Cbaptbb  IIL 282 

Laws  of  Marriage. — 1.  Permanence. — The  Scripture  doctrine  of  divorce  discussed. — 
The  uses  of  permanence. — Causes  of  frequency  of  divorce. — St.  Paul's  advice  in  regard 
to  Marriage. — Adultery  a  crime,  nature  and  the  divine  law  forbid  it. — Its  evil  conse- 
quences.— The  causes  of  Marriage  unhappiness. — 2d.  Law  of  Mutualness. — Marriage  a 
moral  good  in  itself. — Highest  motive  for  Marriage  is  aflfection. — Children  should  not 
marry  without  consent  of  parents. — Third  law,  the  supremacy  in  Marriage  belongs  to  the 
Husband. — This  doctrine  is  made  tolerable  by  Christianity. 


Chapteb  IV. 301 

Law  of  Parents  and  Children. — Not  merely  an  Animal  Relation. — Evils  arising  from 
this  notion. — Parents  are  bound  to  children:  1st,  Corporeally;  for  maintenance. — Limits 
of  this  obligation. — The  State  can  enforce  it. — 2d.  Mentally ;  for  Education. — Limits  of  this 
right. — The  State  has  no  power  of  Religious  teaching:  of  moral  teaching,  only  up  to  a 
certain  point. — 3d.  Spiritually;  for  Religious  Education. — The  State  h&s  no  right  in  this 
whatever. 


Chapter  V. 808 

The  right  of  the  child  to  a  Spiritual  training,  from  its  being  always  a  moral  being,  and 
from  the  needs  of  its  nature. — That  right  extends  to,  1st,  Direct  instruction  as  to  its  nature 
and  position,  i.  e..  Ethical  Teaching. — 2d,  As  to  the  nature  of  God,  t.  e..  Religious  Teach- 
ing— 3d,  Personal  Sanctity  in  the  Father  and  Mother. — 4th,  Practical  Guidance  and 
Governance. — 6th,  Baptism  or  Covenant  with  God. — The  perfection  of  the  Home  is  Love< 


12  CONTENTS. 

BOOK  VI. 

THE    HUMAN   WILL. 


Chapter  L 318 

Arguments  upon  the  Will  generally  mere  thorny  quibbles. — The  opinion  of  Milton  to 
this  eflFect. — Censure  upon  its  harshness. — The  opinion  of  Bishop  Beveridge. — The  Senti- 
ments of  Hooker  as  to  the  Will  of  God  and  the  Nature  of  His  Decrees. — St.  Augustine, 
his  character  and  temper. — Two  ideas  held  by  him  to  be  connected,  Grace  and  Predes- 
tination.— These  are  not  so  connected  naturally. — Evil  consequences,  on  both  sides,  of 
taking  it  to  be  so. — The  Theological  Controversy  waived. — The  Will  discussed  as  a 
faculty  of  our  nature. 

Chapter  11. •• 328 

Definitions  of  the  Will:  three  given. — Objections  answered. — Logical  and  Real  exami- 
nation of  the  sophism,  "  The  will  is  determined  by  motives,  and  therefore  is  not  free." — 
Motives  are  of  two  kinds :  Spiritual  and  Temporal. — The  first  free  the  Will,  the  last-men 
tioned  enslave  it — Two  powers  that  combine  in  every  Human  action,  the  Will  of  the 
Man,  and  the  effect  of  Circimistance.— From  this  fact  a  new  ground  taken  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Wm. 

Chapter  HI. 335 

The  meaning  of  "  Circumstance." — It  does  not  imply  doom  or  Physical  Necessity.- 
But  an  ever-present  God  acting  upon  us,  according^  to  the  Laws  of  his  nature  and  the 
Laws  established  for  us  by  Him,  and  therefore  good. — The  question  of  Freedom  difierent 
from  that  of  Power. 

Chapter  TV. 342 

The  Will  has  a  power  of  resistance  to  Motive. — Motives  upon  the  Will  do  not  act 
necessarily. — The  evil  results  of  Fatalism. — Analogy  to  the  Will  and  its  Motives  of  the 
concurrence  of  forces.  Mechanical,  Chemical,  and  Vital. — Brute  animals  are  really  and 
truly  what  the  Fatalist  thinks  man  to  be. — Man  has  a  Will:  Brutes  have  properly  no 
Will. — The  question  of  Free-will  is  a  practical  one. — As  a  matter  of  fact  there  are 
men  whose  Will  is  not  free. — The  two  Wills,  the  "  Will  of  the  Flesh,"  and  the  Spiritual 
Will. — Society  trains  the  Will. — The  Spiritual  Law  sets  the  Will  de  facto  free :  examples 
from  Conscience,  the  Reason,  the  Heart. 

Chapter  V. - 358 

The  second  power  of  the  Will,  that  of  Purpose;  illustrated  by  a  comparison  of  cases: 
1st,  Sets  its  object  in  the  Future ;  2d,  Prescribes  a  law  to  the  Will. — A  rebuke  of  the 
Heathen  Morality,  that  tells  us  not  to  look  to  the  Future. — We  must,  by  our  being,  look 
towards  it. — This  fact  interpreted. — True  Christian  Hope ;  1st,  Looking  steadily  to 
Christ,  and  secondly,  imposing  voluntarily  the  law  of  God  upon  the  action,  is  that  only 
which  perfects  Purpose  of  Will. 

Chapter  VI 368 

The  question  of  Power — Man's  will  originates  power,  and  is  not  merely  an  agent  of  it. 
— The  evils  of  Fatalism  exemplified  in  a  quotation  from  Diderot. — Man's  Will  is  free  in 
act  and  fact  when  it  coincides  completely  with  the  Will  of  God  in  Choice,  in  Purpose, 
and  in  Power. 

General  Conclcsios. i 872 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 


BOOK    I. 
HUMAN    NATURE 


CHAPTER  I. 


Is  man's  nature  'good  or  evil*  ? — There  is  a  nature  perfectly  indifferent  aa  to 
good  or  evil. — ^It  ia  that  of  the  brutes,  not  of  man. — Man's  nature  is  not 
partly  good  and  partly  evil. — It  is  not  essentially  evil. — This  proved  by  the 
monstrous  conclusions  which  vrould  follow. — It  is  then  essentially  a  nature 
good  in  Usejf,  not  evil  in  itself- — "bvA  fallen. 

As  I  have  defined  Ethics  to  be  the  Science  of  Man's  Naturo 
and  Position,  it  is  manifest  that  the  whole  subject,  scientifically 
treated,  must  embrace,  at  least  in  efiect,  all  questions  that  concern 
his  nature  and  its  relation  to  external  things.  But  as  this  is  a 
thing  plainly  impossible,  for  what  scientific  system  details  all  its 
applications,  consequences  and  deductions  ?  And  as  the  purpose 
of  Science  is  to  render  such  tediousness  unnecessary,  by  giving 
principles  and  propositions  that  will  imply  all  consequences,  it 
seems  to  me  that  such  should  be  the  course  with  a  true  science  of 
Ethics.  And  therefore  I  shall  try  to  establish,  in  regular  order, 
such  conclusions  as  shall  be  the  most  natural,  and  the  most  fruit- 
ful in  consequences ;  so  that  if  possible,  I  may  be  able,  principle 
after  principle,  and  conclusion  after  conclusion,  to  give  a  system 
at  once  practical  and  scientific. 

This  being  my  intention,  the  question  which  naturally  comes 
first  in  a  science  of  man's  nature  and  position  is  this — 

"  What  is  Mans  Nature  ?  Every  man  having  the  idea  of  good 
13 


14  ■  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  evil — what  is  it  with  regard  to  goodj  and  with  regard  to  evil  f 

Is  IT  GOOD,  OR  IS  IT  EVIL  ?" 

I  am  aware  the  question  will  sound  preposterous  and  absurd  to 
many ;  but  still  it  is  a  deeply  important  question.  There  are  three 
modes  in  which  man  may  have  a  moral  quality,  in  which  what  he 
does  may  be  described  as  good  or  evil, — ^his  thoughts,  his  words, 
his  actions.  Let  the  reader  mark  this.  The  question  is  not,  are 
man's  thoughts  good  or  evil  ?  are  his  words  good  or  evil  ?  are  his 
actions  good  or  evil  ?  That  is  not  the  question ;  that  can  be  plainly 
answered.  His  thoughts,  words  and  actions  are  not  his  nature. 
They  come  from  it,  certainly,  but  they  are  no  more  his  nature  than 
buds,  flowers  and  fruits  are  the  tree  from  which  they  come.  To 
decide,  then,  about  thoughts,  words  and  actions,  this  is  quite  a 
different  thing  from  deciding  upon  the  quality  of  his  nature. 

I  have  said  that  this  question  is  an  important  one  ;  I  say  that 
it  is  more,  it  is  the  central  and  primary  one  of  Natural  Ethics ; 
one  without  which  there  can  be  no  science  of  Ethics,  no  knowledge 
of  it.  It  is  not  a  high  theoretic  question  which  we  may  live  in  the 
world  without  discussing,  and  be  better  not  discussing  than  enter- 
ing upon  it,  as  is  the  question  of  the  "  Origin  of  Evil,"  the  ques- 
tion "  Whence  did  evil  come  into  the  world,  since  God  is  all  good 
and  Almighty  ?"  But  it  is  a  wholly  practical  one, — the  question, 
"  Is  this  nature,  this  which  I  have,  this  which  is  my  nature  as  a 
man,  good  or  evil  ?" 

Now,  manifestly  all  the  possible  answers  that  may  be  given  to 
this  question  are  contained  in  a  few  words.  I  may  say  that  "  it 
is  good" — I  may  say  that  "it  is  evil" — I  may  say  that  "it  is 
partly  good  and  partly  evil" — or  I  may  say  that  it  is  "  perfectly 
indifferent  to  either."  These  four  embrace  all  the  possible  answers 
that  can  be  given  to  the  question,  and  the  calm  consideration  of 
them  all,  and  the  decision  of  it  aright,  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
any  progress  at  all  in  true  Ethical  Science.  He  that  will  study 
any  science  must  first  master  the  first  principles,  and  without  the 
complete  and  accurate  knowledge  of  them  he  can  make  no  pro- 
gress ;  it  is  to  him  an  utter  impossibility.  This  question  is  the 
first  principle  in  the  science  of  which  we  treat.  Decide  it  aright, 
and  there  is  only  one  right  answer  of  the  four,  and  you  shall  be 
able  to  advance  further  onward.  Take  to  yourself  either  of  the 
three  that  are  wrong,  and  the  very  foundation  of  religion  and  mo- 
rality shall  bo  astray  with  you ;  and  only  by  God's  grace  against 


HUMAN  NATURE.  15 

yonr  convictions,  only  by  the  teachings  of  God's  Providence  leading 
you  against  yourself,  against  your  ideas  and  fancied  knowledge, 
shall  you  go  aright. 

NoTV,  the  fourth  of  these  says  that  man's  nature  is  indifferent, 
having  no  moral  quality  at  all.  Are  there  such  natures  in  exist- 
ence ?  There  are.  Those  beings  that  we  call  "  animals  or  brutes" 
— ^these  are  of  that  kind. 

We  see  in  animals  the  most  undoubted  proofs  that  they  reason ; 
of  this  all  natural  history  of  modern  times  is  full,  that  they  argue 
and  reason  from  premises  to  conclusions,  just  as  man  does.  All 
kinds  of  that  property  called  reasoning,  we  see  in  animals  just  the 
same  as  in  man,  the  same  in  kind,  not  the  same  in  degree  ;  the 
reasoning  power  is  very  manifestly  exercised  by  the  brutes.  True 
it  is,  that  we  see  it  in  them  vastly  inferior  to  another  power,  that 
of  "  instinct,"  which  works  towards  ends  of  which  it  is  perfectly 
unconscious.  Still  the  reasoning  power  is  not  the  distinguishing 
character  of  man,  that  which  separates  him  from  the  animals,  nor 
is  "  instinct"  the  peculiar  possession  of  the  Brute  creation.  For 
the  beasts  have  reason,  and  man  has  instinct ;  each  of  them,  how- 
ever, in  an  inferior  or  less  degree.  The  definition,  then,  that  man 
is  a  reasoning  animal,  or  an  animal  whose  quality  is  to  reason,  is 
false;  and  that  an  animal  is  an  organized  machine,  or  a  being 
having  only  instinct,  is  false  also. 

Now,  what  is  the  character  that  really  differences  the  two  na- 
tures, that  of  man  and  the  beasts  ?  It  is  not  either  reasoning 
power,  nor  is  it  instinct ;  still  less  is  it  any  of  the  differences  given 
by  Locke  or  his  followers.  It  is  this  very  thing  of  moral  indif- 
ference, that  the  nature  of  beasts  and  their  actions  are  really 
neither  good  nor  evil.  That  the  sense  and  feeling  of  pleasure 
and  pain  is  to  them  all,  and  that  of  moral  good  and  moral  evil,  a 
good  or  an  evil  quality  in  actions    they  have  no  feeling. 

I  do  not  say  that  man  has  a  moral  sense,  as  some  of  our  mo- 
dern philosophers  talk ;  as  if  there  were  a  peculiar  faculty  in  him 
superadded  to  appetites,  passions,  affections  and  reasoning  powers, 
which  has  the  peculiar  charge  of  moral  objects,  as  reasoning  power 
has  of  reasoning,  &c. ;  so  that  the  reasoning  power  reasons,  the 
moral  power  feels,  &c.,  morally.  This  is  not  what  I  say,  but  that 
man  Aas  a  moral  nature  ;  so  that  no  thought,  word  or  action  but 
has  a  moral  quality,  is  either  good  or  evil,  and  will  so  be  judged, 
both  by  himself,  by  his  fellow  men  and  by  his  God. 


16  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

"With  regard  to  animals,  it  may  be  seen  at  once  that  their  actions 
have  no  moral  quality  ;  that  there  is  in  them  nothing  of  good  or 
of  evil,  and  that  it  is  only  by  a  metaphor  we  call  them  good  or 
evil,  as  applied  to  our  own  uses.  That  is  a  good  dog  that  watches 
best,  that  sets  the  best,  or  that  kills  rats  the  best,  or  that  churns 
the  farmer's  milk  the  best,  or  that  draws  the  beggar's  cart  the 
best.     Change  hands  and  there  is  no  goodness  in  them. 

And  even  temper  in  animals,  to  which  with  more  of  plausibility 
we  may  apply  the  terms  "good"  and  evil,"  even  in  this  case  it  is 
only  with  reference  to  ourselves  and  our  ideas  that  we  apply  the 
term.  The  generosity  of  the  lion,  the  ferocity  of  the  wolf,  the 
untameable  fierceness  of  the  wild  ass,  the  cruelty  of  the  tiger,  the 
cunning  of  the  fox,  all  these  are  but  metaphors  taken  from  our 
own  nature.  These  things  instead  of  being  moral,  having  a  good 
or  evil  quality,  being  deserving  of  praise  or  blame,  are  nought 
else  than  tempers  arising  from  the  conformation  of  the  animal, 
and  absolutely  necessary  for  its  physical  preservation.  A  lion  is 
no  more  really  'noble,'  because,  with  his  immense  muscular  power 
and  capacity  of  destruction,  he  stands  out  boldly  in  the  centre  of 
the  African  desert,  than  a  fox  is  mean  and  to  be  despised,  because 
he  with  a  feeble  and  small  frame  sneaks  through  the  bushes.  In 
the  one  temper  as  well  as  the  other  there  is  nothing  moral,  nothing 
immoral,  nothing  good,  nothing  evil,  only  a  nature  which  is  neither 
good  nor  evil,  but  indifferent  perfectly. 

The  only  apparent  exception  to  this  is  the  dog.  The  response 
which  he  makes  to  our  feelings,  his  apparent  sympathy  with  us, 
his  faithfulness,  all  these  make  us  lavish  upon  him  epithets  that 
express  primarily  moral  qualities.  This,  however,  is  easily  ex- 
plained by  the  known  fact,  that  there  are  some  inferior  animals 
that  seem  to  have  been  created  in  reference  to  the  wants  of  supe- 
rior ones ;  with  instincts  in  their  natures  binding  and  tying  them 
to  the  others,  and  causing  them  to  rejoice  in  their  society.  And 
thus  the  attachment  of  the  dog  to  the  man  is  no  more  capable  of 
a  moral  interpretation  than  the  attachment  of  the  pilot-fish  to  the 
shark.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  horse  and  the  elephant 
in  relation  to  man. 

But  this  may  be  seen,  still  more  plainly  seen  in  the  fact  that 
we  attribute  no  crime  to  brute  animals,  none  of  their  actions  come 
within  the  moral  law  of  God  and  of  society.  The  eagle  murders 
not  when  he  slays  his  prey ;  nor  does  the  wolf  commit  a  crime 


HUMAN  NATURE.  17 

when  we  say  that  he  steals ;  nor  does  the  scorpion  commit  suicide 
or  the  rattlesnake  when  they  destroy  themselves  with  their  own 
weapons  turned  against  their  own  life. 

And,  indeed,  with  an  old  master  of  subtlety,  we  need  have 
no  doubt  that  their  good  and  their  evil  are  not  "  Moral  Good"  and 
"  Moral  Evil ;"  but  the  Good  of  "  Pleasure  and  Pain"  so  arranged, 
as  by  its  operation  upon  their  animal  frame,  to  subserve  ends  of 
which  they  are  wholly  unconscious.  "I  have  no  doubt,"  says 
Jerome  Cardan,  "  that  if  the  ox  could  speak  he  would  call  the 
grazier  good,  because  he  feeds  oxen,  and  the  butcher  bad  because 
he  kills  them,  and  yet  there  is  no  difference." 

Now,  I  wish  my  readers  to  have  it  fully  and  clearly  established 
in  their  minds,  that  there  is,  and  exists  a  class  of  organized  living 
beings,  which  has  a  nature  purely  indifferent,  neither  moral  or 
immoral,  to  which  bodily  pleasure  and  pain  is  the  sole  guidance 
from  the  external  world. 

Having  laid  this  idea  clearly  before  them,  I  shall  ask  them, 
appealing  only  to  their  own  experience  of  their  own  nature,  while 
it  is  manifest  that  the  nature  of  the  beast  is  an  animal  nature,  of 
itself  neither  moral  nor  immoral,  is  it  not  equally  manifest  that 
man's  nature  is  moral;  that  while  "pleasure  and  pain"  are  guides 
to  him  as  an  animal,  still  as  a  man  he  has  higher  guides  in  justice 
and  honesty,  and  law  and  conscience  ? 

Thus  have  we  established  a  broad  distinction  between  man  and 
animals.  Thus  have  we  excluded  one  of  the  answers  upon  human 
nature,  the  one  which  supposes  it  to  be  indifferent,  having  no  moral 
quality  whatsoever. 

And  before  we  go  further,  we  shall  stamp  this  opinion  regarding 
our  nature  as  one  that  always  goes  hand  in  hand  with  Atheism 
and  the  worst  immorality. 

If  our  nature  be  indifferent,  as  that  of  the  brutes  is ;  and,  as 
theirs  have  no  moral  quality,  then  are  we  like  in  the  ends  we  have 
to  fulfil  to  them,  we  are  incapable  of  immorality.  If  our  nature 
be  animal  or  indifferent,  then,  as  in  consequence  of  this  in  them 
no  act  is  criminal  or  sinful,  or  indeed  can  be  so,  in  us,  it  must  be 
the  same.  Then  our  sole  business  shall  be  to  gratify  our  propen- 
sities, all  of  them ;  our  sole  excitement  to  action,  physical  plea- 
sm-e;  our  sole  check  physical  pain.  Wheresoever  this  doctrine 
with  regard  to  the  nature  of  man  prevails,  there  it  is  the  doctrine 
of  Atheism  and  debauchery,  and  of  grasping  and  selfish  sensuality. 

3 


18  CHKISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

The  next  answer  to  the  question,  "is  the  nature  of  man  good  or 
evil,"  that  can  be  given,  is  manifestly  that  it  is  part  good  and  part 
evil.  The  soul  good  and  the  body  evil ;  or,  the  soul  evil  and  the 
body  good.  Two  strange  varieties  of  opinion  these  are,  but  as 
strange  as  they  are  they  have  had  many  advocates. 

The  last,  that  the  soul  of  man  is  evil,  his  body  good,  implies  the 
Transmigration  of  Souls ;  the  dogma,  that  of  Spirits  that  fell  there 
were  two  classes,  they  who  could  rise  again  and  were  enwrapped 
in  bodies  of  clay  and  passed  from  one  to  the  other,  until  being 
purified  they  resumed  their  former  state.  The  first,  which  answers 
that  the  Soul  is  Good,  the  Body  Evil,  implies  that  there  are  two 
Gods.  Each  omniscient,  omnipotent  and  eternal.  The  one  the 
God  of  Good,  and  the  other  the  God  of  Evil.  These  answers,  a 
little  thought  will  show  us  imply  these  consequences. 

The  tenets  themselves  were  once  of  great  importance,  now  of 
none.  Man's  nature  is  evidently  a  unity,  although  composed  of 
floul  and  body ;  it  must  be  good  therefore  or  it  must  be  evil ;  it  can- 
not be  both  together,  the  soul  good  and  the  body  evil,  or  the  soul 
evil  and  the  body  good.  We  may  easily  dismiss  this  the  third 
answer  as  unsuitable. 

And  now  we  have  only  two  left  to  us.  The  one  asserts  that 
"man's  nature  is  evil,"  the  other  "that  it  is  good;"  one  or  other 
must  be  true.  It  is  manifest  then  that  the  argument  may  go  on 
by  a  two-fold  division.  The  establishing  of  the  one  refutes  the 
other ;  the  refutation  of  the  one  is  the  establishment  of  the  other. 
The  reader  we  hope  will  bear  this  in  mind,  for  the  subjects  to  be 
considered  in  this  treatise  are  so  many  and  so  important,  that 
when  we  can  clearly  decide  upon  a  doctrine,  we  shall  not  always 
say  all  we  could  have  said  in  its  defence  or  in  its  refutation.  We 
shall  be  content  to  say  what  we  count  enough.  5 

Now,  the  nature  of  man  is  not  indifi"erent.  It  is  not  partly 
good  and  partly  evil ;  it  must  then  be  essentially  evil  or  essentially 
good. 

Say  that  it  is  essentially  evil — the  nature  of  man — not  merely 
his  words,  or  his  actions,  or  his  thoughts  evil,  but  his  nature ; 
suppose  that  this  is  so,  and  what  is  the  result  and  consequence  ? 

Why,  this,  that  when  he  acts  in  accordance  with  his  nature, 
thenhe  acts  evilly.  Let  him  feel  emotions  of  pity  arising  in  his 
breast,  and  feel  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  his  nature  to  aid  the 
distressed,  then,  as  his  nature  is  evil,  it  should  be  evil  so  to  do. 


HUMAN  NATURE.  19 

He  feels  that  to  be  just,  upright  and  honorable,  is  according  to 
his  nature,  but  according  to  the  doctrine  that  nature  is  essentially 
evil,  justice  and  uprightness  and  honesty  shall  be  evil.  And  the 
opposite  qualities,  since  opposite  of  evil  is  good,  shall  be  good  ! 
Then  shall  all  the  affections  which  are  natural  be  evil,  the  love  of 
husband  to  wife,  and  the  love  of  wife  to  husband,  which  is  natural^ 
be  a  thing  base  and  vile  and  in  every  way  to  be  shunned ;  the  love 
of  parents  to  children  to  be  evil.  And  all  the  natural  feelings,  the 
natural  tendencies,  the  natural  affections,  all  shall  be  bad,  all  evil. 

And  then  if  man  desires  to  live  aright,  since  his  nature  is  of 
itself  wholly  evil,  his  business  shall  be  to  oppose  nature.  All 
things  against  nature  shall  be  good,  all  according  to  nature  shall 
be  bad.  To  be  malevolent  shall  be  good,  to  be  full  of  pity,  evil ; 
to  be  kind-hearted  shall  be  evil,  to  be  harsh  in  life  and  conduct, 
good ;  to  be  merciful  shall  be  wrong ;  to  be  cruel  shall  be  right ; 
to  be  a  peaceable  citizen  of  a  State,  and  an  obedient  child,  shall 
be  evil ;  and  to  be  a  lawless  and  desperate  outlaw  or  a  parricide, 
shall  be  good.  The  chaste  husband  or  wife,  living  according  to 
the  dictates  of  nature  in  marriage,  shall  be  evil  in  that  very  thing ; 
the  licentious  adulterer  shall  be  good.  Monstrous  consequences 
these,  and  outraging  the  natural  feeling  of  all ;  and  yet  conse- 
quences that  unavoidably  follow  from  the  monstrous  paradox  that 
human  nature  is  essentially  evil. 

Let  us  look  at  this  dogma  a  little  more  plainly  still.  If  this  be 
80,  then  man  requires  no  temptation,  in  fact  cannot  be  tempted, 
for  his  nature  being  wholly  evil,  all  his  hopes,  desires,  fears,  are 
of  themselves  evil  essentially.  He  cannot  be  polluted,  for  of  him- 
self his  nature  is  evil.  All  crimes  are  equal,  for  the  nature  from 
which  all  proceed  is  equally  bad,  being  in  itself  essentially  evil. 
All  his  sins  then  are  equal  in  the  eye  of  God,  each  equally  deserv- 
ing condemnation  in  the  eye  of  infinite  justice.  And  the  inno- 
cent babe,  if  his  nature  be  essentially  evil,  is  a  subject  for  limitless 
wrath  equally  with  the  hoary  murderer  and  debauchee  of  eighty 
years.     And  all  this  in  direct  opposition  to  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Nay,  more  than  this.  If  man's  nature  be  all  evil,  as  then  all 
his  evil  temptations,  thoughts,  feeling  and  actions  must  come  from 
himself,  then  there  can  be  no  tempter  to  evil  outside  of  him, — no 
devil ;  but  a  principle  of  evil  in  him.  And  that  principle  of  evil 
is  in,  and  is,  the  nature  of  man !  In  other  words,  man  is  Satan, 
and  there  is  no  Satan  but  man ! 


20  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Now,  asking  of  my  readers  to  look  this  notion  straight  in  the 
face,  to  have  in  their  minds  the  clear  idea  of  it,  is  asking  of  them 
also  to  bear  in  mind  that  "thoughts,"  "words,"  and  "actions," 
are  not  "  human  nature."  I  would  ask  them  steadily  to  look  at 
this  doctrine,  "that  human  nature  is  essentially  evil,"  and  ask 
themselves,  do  not  these  consequences  follow  from  it^  really  and 
unavoidably  ? 

This  is  a  system  of  Morality,  indeed !  which  makes  it  natural 
to  do  evil,  unnatural  to  do  good ;  which  puts  law  and  conscience 
and  justice  all  as  evil!  And  all  the  things  that  are  naturally 
good,  asserts  that  they  are  naturally  evil.  A  strange  system  of 
Morality  indeed,  which  begins  by  denying  the  possibility  of  any 
morals,  any  goodness,  and  asserting  that  all  actions  are  bad,  and 
all  equally  bad ! 

This  is  a  hideous  Moral  System,  one  that  nevertheless  has 
existed  from  very  ancient  times.  They  are  the  tenets  of  a  very 
ancient  sect  upon  whom  the  prophet  Isaiah  pronounces  a  woe: 
"Woe  be  to  them  that  call  evil  good,  and  good  evil,  that  put  light 
for  darkness  and  darkness  for  light ;"  to  them  the  apostle  Paul 
alludes,  when  he  speaks  of  those  who  in  the  latter  days  should 
"  forbid  to  marry,  and  command  to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God 
hath  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving  of  them  that  believe 
and  know  the  truth,  for  every  creature  of  Crod  is  good,  and  no- 
thing to  be  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving." 

Of  such  philosophising  has  there  been  an  abundance,  and  unto 
it  man's  nature  is  essentially  evil,  and  unto  it  from  this  central 
fact  all  nature  and  all  creatures  also  become  evil,  and  therefore  it 
is  that  it  forbids  marriage,  and  orders  to  abstain  from  meats ; 
whereas  the  apostle  lays  it  down  as  plainly  that  all  creatures  are 
good,  and  "  that  marriage  is  honorable  in  all." 

But  in  addition  to  the  display  of  the  natural  consequences  of 
this  doctrine,  that  human  nature  is  essentially  evil,  we  may  appeal 
to  the  consciousness  of  each  individual,  to  the  knowledge  he  has 
of  himself.  Does  not  each  man  feel  that  when  he  acts  evilly  or 
sins,  that  he  acts  against  the  laws  of  his  own  nature  ?  That  to  act 
rightly  and  virtuously  is  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  his  nature, 
and  not  against  it  ?  Does  he  not  each  time  that  he  acts  evilly,  feel 
ashamed,  condemned  by  his  own  nature  ?  Does  he  not  feel  that  to 
cheat,  to  lie,  to  murder,  so  far  from  being  natural,  are  directly 


HUMAN  NATURE.  2X 

against  liis  nature  ?  Surely,  all  the  experience  that  man  has  of 
himself,  all  this  tells  him  that  his  nature  is  not  essentially  evil. 

And  I  confess  that  I  have  been  most  heartily  ashamed  of  men 
who  from  the  pulpit  preach  this  horrid  notion,  never  having  thought 
of  its  consequences  or  of  its  nature  ;  and  then,  to  establish  it,  have 
told  untruths  as  great.  Tell  the  man  who  has  bent  in  agony  over 
the  sick  bed  of  a  dying  wife,  who  for  months,  without  hope  of  re- 
ward, has  watched,  and  wept,  and  sympathized, — tell  him  this  is 
no  good  act,  but  purely  evil  and  sinful !  And  then,  in  order  to 
prove  such  a  monstrous  paradox,  tell  him  that  it  was  done  from 
selfish  motives,  and  nature  will  rise  and  give  you  the  lie ;  and  the 
man  will  feel  and  speak  as  strongly  of  you  as  did  Paul  of  the  men 
that  preached  this  doctrine  of  old,  as  "  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy, 
having  the  conscience  seared  as  with  a  hot  iron." 

Tell  him  that  morality  is  not  only  of  no  good,  but  downright 
sinful ;  and  Nature's  law  shall  tell  him  directly  the  contrary,  and 
the  Bible  will  say  to  him,  "  When  the  Gentiles,  which  have  not 
the  law,  do  hy  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  then  are  they 
a  law  unto  themselves." 

Take  the  hoary  desperado,  the  pirate  and  cut-throat,  and  drunk- 
ard and  debauchee,  from  the  Indian  seas,  and  place  him  side  by 
side  on  the  same  level  with  a  yoling  innocent  girl,  from  an  unpol- 
luted home,  and  nature's  consciousness  of  truth  shall  declare  your 
notions  false. 

It  follows,  then,  that  the  nature  of  man  cannot  be  in  itself  essen- 
tially evil. 

And  by  the  exclusion  of  the  three  of  the  only  four  possible 
answers,  it  must  be  that  we  affirm  the  one  remaining,  "  that  Hu- 
man Nature  is  of  itself  and  in  itself  essentially  good." 

We  exclude  the  three,  and  this  affirms  the  one.  The  proof, 
therefore,  of  it  at  the  present  is  exclusive  and  negative,  rather 
than  positive.  We  therefore  insist  upon  it  as  a  right,  of  logical 
necessity  due  to  us,  that  objections  against  the  conclusion  be  re* 
served  until  we  come  to  the  positive  proof.  In  the  mean  time,  we 
would  discuss  another  part  of  the  subject  as  preparatory  to  this 
positive  proof. 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 


Note  to  Chapter  L 


Upon  this  doctrine,  that  "  Human  Nature  is  essentially  evil," 
it  may  seem  to  some  persons  strange  that  we  should  spend  so  much 
time  in  displaying  its  evil  consequences  and  developing  them.  Yet 
let  such  persons  know  that  all  these  consequences  have  not  only 
been  deduced  as  logical  conclusions,  but  they  have  been  preached 
and  acted  out  by  perhaps  the  vilest  and  most  evil  of  all  the  ancient 
sects,  the  Manichseans.  These  men  took  it  that  man's  nature  is 
essentially  evil,  and  carried  out  their  doctrine  to  the  extremest 
degree,  as  history  will  show. 

For  this  reason  we  have  brought  the  dogma,  in  all  its  conse- 
quences, clearly  and  distinctly  before  the  minds  of  our  readers. 
We  would  have  them  see  its  untruth  distinctly  and  decidedly.  For 
that  man's  nature  is  not  essentially  evil,  but  a  nature  which  al- 
though fallen  is  in  its  nature  good :  this  is  the  first  principle  of 
all  morality. 

I  would  also  add,  that  this  is  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  early 
Christian  Church. 


CHAPTER  II. 


What  is  the  nature  of  Good  and  Evil  ? — The  highest  good,  and  the  means  of 

discoyering  it. 

In  our  last  chapter  we  used  a  phrase  "  Human  Nature,"  for  the 
constitution  of  man,  as  consisting  of  body,  soul  and  spirit.  By 
this  word  we  meant  the  whole  nature  of  man  considered  generally, 
without  reference  to  the  peculiarities  of  individuals  or  of  nations ; 
"the  man,"  generally.  We  asked,  then,  whether  it  were  "evil 
or  good,"  as  considering  this  as  the  first  question,  the  fundamental 
one  of  all  Ethics.  And  we  decided  it  in  a  negative  and  exclusive 
way,  that  Human  Nature  must  be  in  itself  good,  and  not  evil. 

And  now  we  would  have  our  readers  remark,  that  we  have  used 
the  terms  "  good  and  evil"  often.  We  employed  them  because 
we  knew  that  human  nature  was  good,  and  that  therefore  each  one, 
without  explaining,  would  readily  understand  that  which  we  meant. 


HUMAN  NATUBB.  ^ 

jBut  now  it  is  time  to  examine  more  closely  into  the  meaning  of 
these  terms. 

The  first  remark  we  shall  make  is  this,  that  when  we  establish 
what  is  "good,"  we  establish  also  the  highest  end  of  man,  that 
after  which  he  should  the  most  aim,  and  at  the  same  time  we  esta- 
blish the  supreme  rule  of  his  conduct. 

For  instance,  if  the  supreme  good  of  man  be  in  Utility,  then  as 
the  supreme  law  of  life  he  should  aim  only  at  Utility ;  he  ■'  hould 
make  this  the  measure  of  all  his  actions,  and  casting  aside  all  other 
considerations,  he  should  not  ask,  is  this  right,  or  just,  or  my  duty  ? 
but,  is  this  useful  ?  And  so  with  regard  to  all  other  criterions  or 
tests  whatsoever,  that  have  been  established  of  Good  and  Evil. 
The  establishment  of  a  Highest  Good  and  Evil  is  the  establishment 
of  a  highest  law  for  man's  actions,  and  of  the  highest  reach  of 
virtue  and  perfection  to  which  his  nature  may  climb. 

The  question,  then,  of  "  good  and  evil,"  and  their  nature  and 
criterion,  is  a  very  important  one ;  the  question  of  the  "  Highest 
Good"  still  more  important.  They  are  not  theoretical,  merely,  but 
practical ;  and  that  in  a  very  great  degree,  because  they  imply  a 
law  of  action  first,  and  secondly,  a  knowledge  and  governance  of 
our  own  nature  according  to  it. 

For  clearly,  we  can  see  in  each  individual  that  he  has  something 
which  he  counts  the  Highest  Good,  to  which  he  will  sacrifice  all 
inferior ;  clearly  we  can  see  that  this  feeling  is  a  law  unto  his  na- 
ture, acted  upon  at  all  times  by  himself,  and  always  referred  to  in 
his  actions.  I  have  known  Epicures,  to  whom,  by  an  observation 
of  life  and  conduct,  the  Highest  Good  was  the  pleasures  of  the 
palate.  I  have  known  Epicureans  to  whom  general  ease  and  self- 
gratification  was  the  Highest  Good.  I  have  known  fathers  .  and 
mothers  to  whom  the  advancement  of  their  children  was  the  Highest 
Good  ;  men  to  whom  the  possession  of  property  was  the  Highest 
Good ;  to  whom  power  was  the  highest ;  to  whom  domestic  happi- 
ness, or  the  love  of  their  neighbours,  or  the  sense  and  performance 
of  their  duty,  or  the  doing  of  justice  or  of  mercy ;  I  have  known, 
in  my  short  life,  instances  of  all  these ;  instances  in  which  I  could 
most  plainly  discover  that  these  objects  were  severally  considered 
by  men  as  the  main  object  of  their  lives,  the  objects  which,  to  ob- 
tain, they  would  count  the  highest  good  of  their  existence.  And 
I  have  taken  notice  that  the  feeling  of  the  object  being  the  high- 
eat,  became  a  rule  of  action^  a  law  and  measure  by  which  all  action 


24  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

was  regulated.  Surely,  then,  the  question,  What  is  Good  ?  What  is 
the  Highest  Good  ?  is  not  unimportant,  since  each  one  in  life  more 
or  less  debates  upon  it,  and  decides  it  for  himself. 

With  regard  to  the  term  "  Highest  Good,"  if  the  reader  will  look 
at  the  arrangement  of  objects  of  pursuit  that  I  have  made,  he 
will  see  that  taken  from  the  beginning,  they  manifestly  mount  up 
from  lower  to  higher.  The  pleasures  of  the  mere  appetites,  such 
as  eating  and  drinking,  are  the  lowest  of  all ;  then  the  pleasures 
ef  the  passions  are  higher  still,  of  the  understanding  higher,  of 
the  affections  higher,  and  of  the  moral  feeling  higher  still. 

And  thus  is  one  object  pursued  as  a  good,  higher  and  loftier 
than  another  ;  thus,  by  the  fact  that  man  is  finite,  must  there  be 
some  that  shall  be  the  highest  and  the  loftiest  good  not  merely  of 
the  individual  man,  but  of  universal  Human  Nature.  And  tho 
pursuit  after  this  must  be  the  supreme  law  of  morality  and  of  na- 
ture ;  and  he  that  shall  pursue  this,  shall  fulfil,  entirely  the  end  of 
his  being.  The  idea,  then,  of  the  Supreme  Good  is  a  practical 
one  entirely. 

Now,  in  order  to  understand  what  this  Supreme  Good  is,  the 
first  thing  we  are  to  understand  is,  what  do  we  mean  by  this  term 
"good" — ^the  term  "good,"  I  say,  as  used  by  moral  beings? 
"  That  which  is  useful  to  us  in  the  physical  world,  '  some  say,' 
causes  pleasure,  and  that  which  is  destructive  gives  pain.  So ' 
things  that  are  pleasant  you  call  *good,'  and  painful,  'bad.'  And 
so  from  the  sweetness  of  sugar,  we  by  metaphor  apply  the  idea  to 
sweetness  of  temper ;  from  the  harshness  of  an  acid  taste,  to  harsh- 
ness of  conduct ;  from  the  destructive  nature  of  poisonous  plants, 
to  the  destructive  nature  of  vice  ;  and  so  we  mount  up  to  the  idea 
of  Moral  Good  and  Evil,  even  the  highest." 

And  then  all  these  ideas  of  justice,  honesty,  equity,  truth,  holi- 
ness ;  all  these  are  no  realities  in  themselves,  but  metaphors, 
coming  from  mere  earthly  objects  of  the  sense,  and  brought  thence 
by  our  own  reason  ! 

What  is  good,  then  ?  A  higher  class  answers,  it  is  "  that  which 
is  useful;  has  in  it  the  maximum  of  Utility."  Another  makes 
good  to  be  that  which  is  "in  the  most  accordance  with  our  na- 
ture." And  this  has  in  it  considerable  loftiness,  as  also  has  that 
theory  that  supposes  goodness  to  be  that  which  is  in  accordance 
with  the  "  eternal  fitness  of  things,"  and  that  too  that  imagines 
good  to  be  "  that  which  is  according  to  the  idea  of  moral  beauty," 


HUMAN  NATURE.  25 

and  a  hundred  theories  besides,  of  which  the  man  who  has  patience 
may  examine  as  many  as  he  likes. 

The  last  notion  is  this  :  that  five  ideas,  Benevolence,  Justice, 
Truth,  Honesty,  Order,  make  up  the  "  central  idea  of  morality," 
or  are  its  elements.*  These,  undoubtedly,  are  very  good,  all  of 
them ;  though  as  for  their  being  the  central  elements  of  the  su- 
preme law  of  action,  the  Summum  Bonum,  or  Highest  Good,  I 
myself  being  a  Christian,  should  rather  prefer  the  ancient  elements 
of  "faith,  hope,  and  charity,"  which,  as  there  are  such  facts  as  a 
God,  a  Gospel,  a  Salvation  and  a  Spirit,  I  conceive  are  far  more 
peculiarly  central  elements  of  a  Christian  morality. 

Now,  what  is  the  fact  ?  This  it  is,  that  no  compounding,  adding 
together,  or  intensifying  of  these  ideas,  or  of  any  ideas  whatso- 
ever, will  give  us  as  a  result  the  idea  of  Moral  Goodness.  The 
idea  of  Moral  Goodness  is  an  idea  just  as  simple  as  any  one  of 
these  ideas,  and  manifestly  the  highest  moral  idea  of  them  all. 

"We  could  easily  show  this  by  the  old  logical  method  of  the  con- 
sideration of  what  is  technically  called  the  comprehension  and 
extension  of  the  ideas.  However,  it  may  be  easily  seen  by  another 
means.  In  fact  we  may  add  a  multitude  of  other  qualities,  having 
just  as  fair  a  title  as  these  have,  for  instance.  Holiness,  Conscien- 
tiousness, Temperance,  Self-denial,  &c.,  besides  the  three  I  before 
mentioned,  of  "  faith,  hope,  and  love."  Because  you  call  these  mo- 
rally good,  and  it  is  true  that  they  are  so,  it  does  not  follow  that 
they  are  the  elements  of  moral  good.  So,  to  live  according  to  the 
eternal  fitness  of  things,  or  according  to  "  the  idea  of  moral  beauty," 
these  are  morally  good,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  idea  of 
moral  goodness  is  compounded  of  these. 

In  truth,  the  idea  of  Moral  Good  is  the  highest  of  all  moral  ideas, 
neither  made  up  nor  compounded  of  any,  having  none  above  it, 
itself  measuring  all  other  moral  ideas,  and  being  measured  of 
none.  Of  it  no  definition  can  be  given,  therefore ;  nothing  but  illus- 
tration, by  declaring  the  persons,  or  events,  or  qualities  in  which 
it  is,  or  by  showing  how  we  attain  it,  but  no  definition.  We  may 
say  of  a  wagon,  it  is  a  four-wheeled  vehicle,  giving  thereby  a  de- 
scription of  its  components ;  but  of  this  we  can  give  no  such 
definition.  When  one  asks  us,  "  What  is  the  highest  moral  good  ?" 
we  answer,  "Moral  Good."    When  he  asks,  "What  is  moral 

*  Professor  WhewelL    Elementa  of  Morality. 
4 


26  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

good?"  we  say,  we  do  not  analyze  it — we  cannot;  but  we  point 
you  to  your  own  feelings,  and  experience  of  your  own  nature,  and 
we  say  that  then  you  feel  a  perception  of  a  quality  that  exists  in 
all  moral  beings,  a  quality  of  moral  good,  or  the  absence  of  it, 
which  is  evil ;  which  you  feel  to  have  a  very  real  and  actual  exist- 
ence in  responsible  beings,  and  to  which  you  apply  the  term  moral 
good. 

We,  therefore,  enter  not  into  the  vain  speculation  of  trying  to 
analyze  the  nature  of  Moral  Good,  or  attempting  to  define  it.  We 
Bay  that  man  is  a  being  whose  nature  is  good,  and  not  evil ;  he 
has  the  idea  of  moral  good  as  naturally  as  he  that  sees  has  the 
idea  of  sight ;  that  that  idea  is  the  same  in  one  human  being  as 
it  is  in  another.  And  that  if  we  show  the  means  whereby  the 
idea  and  feeling  is  brought  forth  in  man,  and  then  increased  in 
him,  how  it  is  cultivated,  and  how  it  is  brought  to  perfection,  then 
we  shall  have  done  somewhat  of  the  work  we  set  out  to  do,  the 
work  of  a  Christian  Ethical  Philosophy. 

In  the  mean  time,  how  are  we  to  measure  the  abundance  of  this 
quality  in  others  or  ourselves  ?  or  how  are  we  to  learn  what  we 
desire  to  know  of  it  ?  In  the  first  place,  it  is  manifest  that  since  our 
nature  is  good,  and  since  it  is  one  that  is  under  a  law,  and  its 
goodness  is  measured  by  that  law,  that  that  law,  more  or  less,  re- 
veals to  us  moral  goodness.  It  is  manifest  that  the  Home,  the 
Family,  the  Church,  that  these  all  bring  the  idea  to  perfection, 
being  all  teaching  institutions  that  have  ever  existed,  and  that  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  forth  the  feeling  in  man,  of  increasing  it, 
and  bringing  it  to  perfection. 

Live,  then,  according  to  your  nature ;  according  to  what  your 
nature  has  a  feeling,  you  ought  to  be.  Live  according  to  the 
duties  and  teachings  of  the  Family  ;  for  this,  too,  is  a  school  of 
good :  and  to  the  teachings  of  the  Nation,  for  this  is  the  same. 
And  above  all,  remember  that  there  is  a  Revelation,  a  Holy  Spirit, 
a  Church.  The  instructions  of  these  agree  with,  confirm,  com- 
plete, and  as  it  were,  round  the  whole.  But  to  analyze  it,  and 
Bay  these  are  its  elements,  or  to  define  it,  this  you  cannot  do. 

And  why  is  this  ?  Because,  simply,  that  Moral  Good  is  no  notion 
derived  from  anything  that  we  see  or  feel,  framed  forth  by  meta- 
phor and  figure  from  objects  presented  to  us  by  the  senses.  The 
feeling  and  sense  of  it  is  not  gotten  in  any  way  from  them.  The 
absolute  complete  Moral  Good  exists  not  as  a  quality,  but  as  a 


HUMAN  NATURE.  27 

reality — is  God.*  The  idea  of  moral  good,  that  idea  is  the  feel- 
ing in  our  hearts  of  that  which  is  in  us  or  others  like  in  quality  to 
the  absolute  moral  goody  and  the  knowledge  of  the  qualities  of 
that  likeness.  This  comes  to  us  in  no  other  way  than  from  God 
Himself. 

When  we  wish  to  know  what  is  the  Highest  Good,  then,  if  we 
mean  absolutely,  the  only  answer  is,  "GOD."  If  we  refer  to 
man  and  his  conduct,  "that  which  is  likest  God."  It  is  not  Na- 
ture, it  is  not  Utility,  it  is  not  Moral  Beauty,  nor  Conscience,  nor 
any  one  of  these  moral  feelings  and  moral  duties  that  is  to  be 
made  the  rule  of  action,  and  is  the  Supreme  Good — it  is  GoD. 

Men  will  say,  "  that  is  no  practical  rule  ;  to  try  to  be  benevo- 
lent is  a  practical  rule,  or  to  try  to  be  useful,  or  to  live  according 
to  nature,  all  these  are  practical  rules ;  but  to  make  God  at  once 
the  Supreme  Good  and  the  Highest  Rule  is  not  practicable  !" 

I  do  not  much  like  answering  objections  when  the  further  devel- 
opment of  the  subject  will  put  aside  the  objection,  and  render  it 
unnecessary  to  make  it  as  well  as  to  answer  it.  But  this  I  will 
say ;  do  you  take  for  your  practical  rule  the  Heathen  Ethics  of 
Paley,  that  make  "  enlightened  self-interest"  the  Supreme  Law  of 
Action,  or  the  equally  Pagan  morality,  that  makes  Benevolence 
the  Supreme  Law,  or  this  that  makes  Justice,  Veracity,  or  anything 
else  the  Supreme  Law  of  Action  ?  Take  it,  act  upon  it  consistently, 
and  be  endowed  with  all  the  gifts  of  nature  and  knowledge,  and  I 
flhall  take  a  poor  uneducated  Christian,  who  never  thought  of 
Ethics,  but  has  taken  the  Bible  in  the  Church,  and  by  them  has 
cultivated  his  natural  feeling  of  conscience,  and  other  parts  of  his 
moral  being,  and  to  ten  thousand  times  more  moral  perfection  than 
you  shall  he  have  arrived. 

For  all  these  are  from  God  directly,  and  by  conveying  to  us 

*  "  I  Am." — lie  doth  not  say,  I  am  their  light,  their  guide,  their  strength,  or 
tower,  but  only  I  Am.  He  sets  as  it  were  his  hand  to  a  blank,  that  his  people 
may  -write  under  it  what  they  please  that  is  good  for  them.  As  if  he  should 
say,  Are  they  weak  ?  I  am  strength?  Are  they  poor  ?  lam  riches.  Are  they 
in  trouble  ?  I  am  comfort.  Are  they  sick  ?  I  am  health.  Are  they  dying  ?  1 
am  life.  Have  they  nothing ?  7 oot  all  things.  Jam  wisdom  and  power.  1 
am  justice  and  mercy.  I  am  grace  and  goodness.  I  am  glory,  beauty,  holi- 
ness, eminency,  super-eminency,  perfection,  all-sufficiency,  eternity  I  Jehovah, 
I  am.  Whatsoever  is  amiable  in  itself,  or  desirable  unto  them,  that  I  am. 
Whatsoever  is  pure  and  holy — whatsoever  is  great  or  pleasant — whatsoever  is 
good  or  needful  to  make  men  happy,  that  I  am. — Bishop  Bsteridgi. 


28  CURISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Himself,  or  a  knowledge  of  that  action  tliat  is  likest  Him,  they 
are  our  established  guides.  Whereas,  you  have  taken  an  idea !  a 
notion !  for  your  guide. 

This  is  true,  if  we  believe  that  God  made  Nature,  and  that 
He  made  it  good,  and  that  man,  although  fallen,  is  not  a  beast, 
80  as  to  do  the  evil  that  he  does  naturally,  or  a  devil,  so  as  to  do 
nought  but  evil,  and  that  consciously.  It  is  true,  if  the  Bible  be 
a  revelation  from  God,  and  not  "  a  collection  of  Hebrew  Poetry 
of  the  sublimest  kind."*  It  is  true,  if  the  Church  be  a  divinely  con- 
stituted body,  to  lead  men  in  the  way  of  Religion.  If  all  this  be 
true,  then  have  we  the  means  of  ascertaining  God,  and  that  which 
is  Godlike,  clearly,  plainly  and  distinctly.  If  it  be  not  true,  then 
you  may  take  anything  else  you  please,  and  rear  up  any  system 
you  please,  make  anything  the  "  Highest  Good"  and  the  "  Highest 
Object  of  Pursuit,"  and  your  system  shall  be  a  system  of  Heathen 
Ethics,  but  certainly  not  of  Chi-istian  Morality.  And  your  fame 
may  spread,  and  your  influence  may  extend,  and  your  eloquence 
and  learning  be  extolled  to  the  ends  of  the  earth ;  and  the  old 
woman  in  the  chimney  corner,  going  by  her  nature,  her  natural 
sense  of  right  and  wrong,  as  called  out  by  God's  revelation,  inter- 
preted by  His  Church,  and  applied  by  His  Spirit,  she  shall  have 
higher  truth,  and  more  of  Ethics  than  you.  For  to  a  Christian 
the  Supreme  Good  is  GOD,  the  Supreme  Law  of  Action  is  the 
revelation  of  God  ;  "  the  Pillar  and  ground  of  it  is  the  Church," 
that  which  applies  it  the  Spirit,  and  that  which  receives  it  the 
Nature  of  Man.     Any  morality  that  knows  not  this  is  Heathen. 

Having  made  this  statement  as  to  "  Good,"  the  Supreme  or 
Highest  Good,  and  the  Highest  Law  of  Action,  we  go  on  to  ob- 
viate several  objections  that  might  be  made  to  it,  from  our  ignor- 
ance or  incapability.    This  shall  be  the  object  of  the  next  chapter. 

*  Gennan  Rationalistic  Criticism. 


HUMAN  NATUBE.  •  ZH 

CHAPTER  m. 

God  the  Supreme  Good,  and  the  only  Standard  of  Good.  It  must  have  been 
so  to  Christ  and  to  Adam. — The  case  of  Adam. — Adam's  Moral  Perfection 
— first,  by  his  nature — secondly,  by  the  gift  of  the  Presence  of  God,  as  a 
Supreme  Rule  actually.  Our  fallen  nature  differs,  first,  in  the  withdrawal 
of  that  gift;  secondly,  in  disturbance  and  insubordination  of  faculties.  Still, 
as  a  matter  of  each  man's  experience,  and  also  of  History,  God  is  the  Law 
and  Standard  of  Moral  Good  to  the  Natural  Man. 

Having  gone  so  far  as  to  define  that  "  God  is  the  Supreme  and 
Absolute  Good,  and  the  sole  measure  of  Good,"  the  question  at 
once  comes  up,  "  But  is  not  God  afar  from  nature  and  from  us, 
ruling  us  by  law,  and  Himself  absent,  so  that  we  cannot  make  of 
him  the  measure  of  Good,  or  discern  its  likeness  to  him  ?" 

To  this  we  answered  in  the  last  chapter,  "  Thy  nature  is  of 
God  and  good,  made  in  his  image,  and  although  fallen,  still  not 
brutal  or  fiendish,  but  in  his  image,  although  that  image  be  im- 
paired. Still,  then,  thy  nature  has  a  feeling  for  good,  and  applies 
the  image  as  a  measure  of  it.  The  Bible,  and  that  is  the  Word 
of  God — the  Church  of  God,  and  that  is  his  organization — and 
lastly,  the  Spirit  of  God,  all  these  thou  hast,  or  canst  have,  and 
all  these  are  nearer  to  thee,  bring  the  being,  and  will,  and  feeling, 
and  nature  of  God,  closer  to  man  than  any  other  fact  can  come ; 
so  close,  that  none  in  truth  ever  disbelieved  the  being  and  attri- 
butes of  God ;  they  that  say  so  are  only  self-deceivers  or  vain 
boasters,  trying  to  deceive  others,  not  Atheists." 

But  perhaps,  in  addition  to  this,  our  answer  to  objections,  we 
had  better  enter  a  little  more  closely  into  the  centre  of  this  mat- 
ter, and  view  it  in  another  light.  "We  have  seen  that  there  is  an 
Animal  Nature,  one  perfectly  indifferent.  Again,  we  see  that  a 
nature  perfectly  evil  is  possible.  And  neither  of  these  natures  is 
that  which  man  has. 

Now  it  is  manifest,  that  a  perfect  Human  Nature  would  be  that 
which  did  good  consciously  and  perpetually,  and  never  did  or  had 
even  the  experience  of  an  act  of  evil.  This  consciousness  of  doing 
good  constantly,  and  of  not  knowing  by  self-experience  what  evil 
is  but  by  its  effects  upon  others,  this  is  manifestly  the  character 
given  of  our  Saviour,  as  shown  in  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 


30  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

ment.  It  is  as  manifestly  the  character  given  of  Adam,  our  first 
father,  in  Paradise. 

And  as  manifestly  it  is  the  ideal  image  of  perfection,  after 
"which  each  man  is  led  by  his  nature  to  aspire.  It  is  manifest,  that 
in  this  aspiration  we  desire  not  an  animal  nature  which  is  not  good 
or  evil,  but  indifferent ;  nor  a  mere  innocent  nature,  whose  quality 
is  doing  good  unconsciously,  but  one  that  does  good  consciously, 
and  that  consciously  abstains  from  evil.  It  is  also  manifest  that 
this  desire  of  our  moral  nature  is  no  desire  purely  imaginary,  no 
image  of  perfection  that  never  was  realized,  but  one  that  of  itself 
has  had  two  actual  and  real  exemplars  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  in  Adam  in  Paradise,  the  father  of  the  human  race. 

To  examine,  therefore,  these  exemplars  of  perfection  in  reference 
to  that  which  is  the  Highest  Good  of  man  is  to  bring  the  definition 
we  have  given  of  Good,  and  of  the  Highest  Good,  to  the  actual 
test  of  historical  experience,  and  both  to  confirm  it,  and  also  to 
hold  out  the  very  highest  model,  not  as  imaginary,  but  as  realized. 
And  we  beg  the  reader  to  pay  a  close  attention  to  this  part  of  our 
discussion,  inasmuch  as  the  examination  of  these  models  not  only 
will  illustrate  the  nature  of  Moral  Good,  but  also  the  nature  of 
man,  both  as  fallen  and  as  in  Paradise. 

Now,  with  regard  to  our  Lord — He  was  a  man  ;  this  is  fully 
and  plainly  manifest.  Human  Nature  cannot,  therefore,  be  mo- 
rally indifferent  in  the  same  condition  as  the  beasts  are,  or  fiendish 
essentially,  else  God  could  not  have  taken  it ;  but  it  must  have 
been  Good  in  its  nature. 

Again.  He  was  Morally  Perfect  from  birth  to  death.  He  did 
no  sin  in  thought,  word  or  deed:  for  thought  is  action,  word  is  ac- 
tion, deed  is  action.  Now  seeing  that  manifestly,  therefore,  we 
must  call  him  perfect,  what  is  the  idea  of  Moral  Good  presented 
to  us  by  Him  as  the  perfect  man  ? 

Manifestly  it  may  be  put  in  not  sinning,  that  positively  our 
blessed  Lord,  as  a  man,  in  everything  did  that  which  is  according 
to  the  will  of  God,  and  negatively  he  abstained  from  doing  that 
against  his  will. 

This  is  the  plain  fact,  both  from  his  own  words  and  the  account 
we  have  of  his  life ;  for  of  all  other  men,  whatsoever  height  of 
character  they  have  attained,  it  is  an  historical  fact,  there  are 
none  who  have  not  been  faulted  for  sin,  either  positively  or  nega- 
tively, and  that  He  alone  was  uncensured  both  by  his  friends  and 


HUMAN    NATURE.  M 

cotemporaries,  and  by  all  since  then.  That,  therefore,  by  which 
he  was  perfect  morally,  must  be  the  Highest  Good,  and  that  which 
he  counted  Good  must  have  been  Good,  and  his  method  of  attain- 
ing to  it  the  method.  And  no  definition  of  Moral  Good,  or  of  the 
Highest  Good,  or  of  man's  supreme  rule  in  life,  by  whatsoever 
philosopher  it  be  brought  forward,  is  true  but  this,  that  "  God  ia 
the  Supreme  Good,  and  the  Supreme  Law  of  man  His  Will,  and 
the  Supreme  Happiness  and  Perfection  of  man  a  resemblance  unto 
him." 

It  is  manifest,  that  to  our  Lord,  the  exemplar  and  model 
of  Perfect  Humanity,  the  Supreme  Good  was  God  the  Father. 
His  perfection  was  in  his  being  "the  express  image  of  God."  And 
the  highest  and  completest  object  of  his  existence  to  do  the  will  of 
God.  And  we  can  see  that  he  fulfilled  the  notion  of  a  perfect 
Humanity,  a  Human  Nature  of  itself  Good,  and  consciously  doing 
no  evil,  but  all  good. 

But  we  see  that  he  was  aided  towards  this ;  the  Human  Nature 
was,  as  it  were,  upheld  and  enabled  to  eflfect  this,  and  to  be  raised 
to  its  highest  possible  perfection,  by  the  union  of  the  Divine  Nft' 
ture  with  it. 

But  it  will  be  said,  "  to  Him  this  was  the  Highest  Good,  because 
being  God  the  Word,  the  will  of  the  Father  was  immediately 
known  to  him,  but  to  U8  that  can  be  no  true  standard." 

To  this  we  may  at  once  say,  "  He  is  the  express  image  of  Hia 
person,  the  manifestation  of  His  glory ;"  and  "  he  that  hath  seen 
him,  hath  seen  the  Father  also." 

But  we  go  on  to  another  consideration,  which  will  be  found  to 
tell  upon  this  part  of  the  subject  in  a  very  important  way ;  that 
is,  to  consider  the  moral  condition  of  the  other  perfect  man^ 
Adam ;  and  this  we  shall  find  to  give  us  great  light  upon  the 
matter. 

■'  Now,  when  we  look  at  the  situation  of  Adam,  we  find  enough  to 
lead  us  to  consider  that  as  our  nature  is  good,  even  although  it  ia 
injured  by  the  Fall,  so  was  the  nature  of  Adam  good,  without 
that  injury. 

Next  we  find  that  Adam,  as  Christ,  continuously  thought,  and 
spoke,  and  did  no  evil,  and  that  not  as  a  mere  innocent,  or  as  a 
righteous  animal,  barely  without  consciousness,  but  consciously 
and  knowingly.  This  is  expressed  by  the  declaration  that  God 
made  Adam  in  the  image  of  God,  in  the  image  that  is  of  God  the 


82  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Word,  as  St.  Athanaslus  interprets  it,  which  implies  that  his  na- 
ture, as  a  moral  nature,  was  complete  and  perfect. 

And  secondly,  he  possessed  the  endowment  of  a  direct  super- 
natural communication  with  the  Almighty,  whereby  man's  nature, 
"the  image  of  God,"  should  reflect  God's  attributes.  So  should 
man's  Will  directly  be  under  the  influence  of  the  Father  ;  man's 
Higher  Reason,  of  the  Word  ;  man's  Conscience,  of  the  Spirit. 

So  that  thereby  his  being  in  the  image,  this  consisted  of  these 
two  parts  :  first,  the  Moral  Nature,  and  secondly,  the  supernatural 
endowment  corresponding  to  that  nature.  This  the  Supernatural 
Gift,  consisting  plainly  of  the  Presence  of  God  with  Adam,  not 
as  God  was  present  with  our  Saviour,  perpetually  united  with  his 
Humanity,  but  as  capable  of  being  withdrawn.  Which  gift  the 
Catholic  Church  has  accounted  to  be  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in 
a  nature,  1st,  unfallen,  2d,  perfectly  free,  and  3d,  untainted  from 
the  beginning  with  any  speck  of  actual  sin.* 

This  is  the  account  of  the  First  Man  and  his  condition,  which 
seems  to  have  been  drawn  from  the  Scriptures  by  the  Universal 
Reason  of  the  Church.  And  we  can  see  that  it  agrees  most  ex- 
actly with  the  various  passages  of  the  Scriptures  that  concern 
Adam,  or  speak  of  man  in  general,  whether  they  be  historical  or 
doctrinal. 

Now,  this  manifestly  implies,  with  regard  to  Adam,  the  same 
we  have  shown  to  be  the  case  with  respect  to  Christ,  our  most 
Blessed  Lord  ever  to  be  adored,  that  His  Supreme  Absolute  Good 
was  God ;  the  measure  and  standard  unto  him  of  all  moral  good 
whatsoever.  That  of  his  own  nature  and  actions,  their  good  was 
a  similarity  in  them  to  God,  and  that  God's  will  was  his  law.  And 
that  Adam  was  not  then  good  of  himself,  and  of  his  own  reason, 
with  no  connection  with  God  except  that  of  natural  mind,  under- 
standing of  its  natural  ability,  that  which  is  good,  and  then  of 
that  natural  ability  doing  it.  But  Adam  was  good  in  a  twofold 
way ;  first,  of  his  nature,  so  made  and  constituted ;  and  secondly, 
of  the  Supernatural  Grift ;  the  Spirit,  thus  bringing  close  to  him 
that  God  who  in  Himself  is  the  absolute  good. 

This  is  the  moral  doctrine  with  regard  to  the  position  of  our 
first  father,  which  the  thought  of  the  Church  has  wrought  out ; 
f 

*  Upon  the  State  of  Adam  before  the  Fall,  and  especially  upon  the  "  Su- 
pernatural Gift,"  Bp.  Bull's  fifth  discourse  may  be  read. 


HUMAN  NATUEE.  33 

and  this  we  shall  see,  and  this  only  will  satisfy  the  descriptions 
givemis  of  man's  nature  in  Paradise,  that  is,  of  man  perfect,  and 
the  demands  of  our  Human  Nature,  that  is,  of  man  imperfect ; 
and  of  the  nature  of  God  and  of  Christ. 

There  are,  I  would  also  remark,  from  these  conclusions,  with 
regard  to  Chi-ist  our  Lord,  and  with  regard  to  Adam,  many  in- 
ferences that  concern  our  present  life  and  future  state  of  perfect 
being,  which  are  of  the  most  interesting,  and  to  this  age  that  has 
forgotten  the  Chm-ch,  the  fountain  of  all  wisdom,  of  the  most 
novel  and  startling  kind,  upon  which  I  would  gladly  enlarge,  but 
that  my  limits  prevent  it.  It  is,  I  hope,  sufficient  to  suggest  "  that 
as  He  is,  so  shall  we  be  also,"  to  enable  others  to  draw  these  in- 
ferences, and  thus  leaving  this  to  Christian  meditation,  we  may 
pass  onward  to  our  task. 

It  will,  however,  be  said,  "while  we  acknowledge  with  regard  to 
Christ  and  with  regard  to  Adam,  what  is  here  laid  down,  to  us  it 
cannot  be  so.  We  are  not  as  our  Lord,  who  was  God  the  Word 
Incarnate,  and  to  whom,  therefore,  '  God,'  the  '  Will  of  God,' 
the  'Nature  of  God'  were  laws." 

We  are  not,  it  will  again  be  said,  as  Adam,  who  was  in  the 
"  Image  of  God,"  and  with  whom  the  Supernatural  Gift  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit,  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity,  ever  dwelt,  and 
being  of  himself  "Very  God,"  revealed  to  Adam,  the  "Nature," 
the  "Will,"  "the  Law"  of  God,  and  thus  made  all  these  his  stand- 
ard of  Moral  Goodness  and  his  Supreme  Law  of  Action.  "  But 
we  are  alone,"  say  they,  "  and  therefore  we  must  find  out  for 
ourselves  some  other  standard." 

I  might  have  given  a  sufficient  answer  to  this,  first,  by  saying 
that  it  is  a  heathen  objection,  one  that  supposes  not  that  "  in  Him 
we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,"  but  that  he  has  departed 
and  left  other  powers  to  rule  the  world,  that  in  themselves  have 
no  moral  and  spiritual  energies,  but  blind  force.  Secondly,  I 
pointed  out  that  our  nature  being  itself  good,  although  fallen, 
the  "Bible  in  the  Church,"  the  Afiections  as  brought  forth  in  the 
Family,  and  the  Natural  Sense  of  Justice  and  Equity,  as  brought 
forth  in  the  Nation,  all  these  are  revelations  of  God,  all  these  are 
such  that  of  Him  we  have  more  evidence  and  clearer  knowledge 
than  we  have  of  any  one  of  the  objects  of  the  senses. 

These  answers  were  enough  for  objections ;  but  as  my  object  is 


34  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

not  to  refute  or  answer,  but  to  teach,  perhaps  it  may  be  advan- 
tageous to  go  farther  into  the  subject. 

And  this  I  will  do,  not  merely  as  a  proof  of  what  I  have  now 
asserted,  but  as  a  most  important  advance  in  the  science  of  Chris- 
tian Ethics. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  the  objections  say,  "  True :  God 
is  the  Highest  Good ;  to  be  like  Him  is  the  Supreme  Happiness ; 
it  was  so  to  Christ  and  so  to  Adam.  It  cannot  be  so  to  us,  because 
we  are  not  as  was  Christ,  we  are  not  as  was  Adam." 

We  are  not  as  our  Lord ;  this  is  manifest.  Whether  that  dis- 
similarity is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  cause  that  Moral  Good  shall 
not  be  to  us  the  same  as  to  him,  or  that  the  Supreme  Rule  of  Ac- 
tion to  our  Lord  shall  not  be  the  Supreme  Rule  to  us,  are  matters 
which,  however  easily  settled,  I  shall  not  here  meddle  with.  The 
objection  that  says,  "  We  are  not  as  Adam,  and  therefore  the  rule 
and  law  of  Adam  cannot  apply  to  us," — this  I  shall  j&rst  take  up. 

The  objection  says,  "We  are  not  as  Adam."  What,  then,  was 
Adam  ?    That  which  we  have  above  described. 

And  what  are  we  ?  The  answer  is,  we  are  "  fallen ;"  this  is  the 
answer  of  all  Christians.     "We  are  fallen." 

But  how  far  fallen — to  what  degree  f  The  answer  with  reference 
to  degree  is,  "  so  far  fallen  as  yet  to  be  men"  not  so  far  as  to 
cease  to  he  men  ;  but  so  far  as,  heing  still  men,  we  could  fall ;  fallen, 
but  not  so  fallen  as  to  be  Devils,  all  evil  in  nature,  or  to  he  heasts, 
altogether  indifferent  to  good.  Man's  nature  is  a  fallen  nature  ; 
"a«  far  gone  as  it  can  6e"*from  Original  Righteousness,  but  not 
farther ;  a  nature  still  Suman,  not  a  fiendish  nature,  or  a  hestial 
one.  In  the  first  chapter  I  have  shown  this ;  I  have  shown  that 
we  must  count  that  man's  nature  yet  is  good. 

Wherein,  then,  is  the  difference,  if  man's  nature  before  the  Fall 
was  good,  after  the  Fall  is  also  good  ?  Is  it  not,  then,  not  fallen? 
We  answer  that  it  is  fallen,  although  good,  and  we  proceed  to  ex- 
plain how  it  is  fallen. 

In  theological  language,  the  state  of  man  now  differs  from  that 
in  Paradise,  in  Sin,  Original  and  Actual.  We  have  not  to  discuss 
the  nature  of  Original  or  Actual  Sin,  for  this  is  out  of  our  way  at 
present,  only  to  show  how  the  two  states  differ  as  regards  the 

*  The  9th  Article  of  the  Church,  "Very  far  gone;"  better  translated  as 
above,  the  Latin  being  "  quam  longissime." 


HUMAN   NATURE.  85 

condition  and  moral  nature  of  man.  We  remarked  upon  the  state 
of  man  before  the  Fall ;  we  showed  that  his  Highest  Good  was  God, 
his  Highest  Law  the  Will  of  God ;  that  this  was  so  by  his  nature, 
by  his  being  in  "  the  image  of  God."  And  then  we  showed  that 
the  Supernatural  Gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  abode  with  him,  reveal- 
ing "  God,"  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  as  a  law,  so  that* 
man,  "  the  image  of  God,"  as  in  a  mirror,  reflected  the  perfection 
of  God  in  his  Will,  in  his  Affections,  and  in  his  Actions.  In  his 
own  natare  being  good,  he  became,  because  of  that  Supernatural 
Gift,  in  finite  and  bounded  existence,  an  image  of  the  Infinite  and 
Supreme. 

To  this  we  shall  add  two  observations  to  confirm  this  view. 
The  first  is,  that  "  God  ia  a  lato  unto  himself ^  and  has  a  law 
under  whieh,  so  to  speak,  he  is  ;  the  Law  of  his  own  infinite  per- 
fections and  infinite  goodness."  He  does  not  make  that  evil 
which  is  good,  or  that  good  which  was  evil  by  an  exertion  of 
Almighty  Power ;  but  that  ii  good  that  i%  according  to  his  nature, 
and  that  is  evil  which  is  against  his  nature. 

And  therefore  it  is,  that  he  alone  is  the  good,  all  others  are  good 
as  a  quality  in  them  exists,  which  is  kindred  to  Him.  And,  so  it 
follows,  that  of  all  things  that  are  good,  you  may  use  the  wojds, 
*'  God  is."*  Men  may  have  them  as  qualities,  but  God  is  them — 
thus  "  God  is  Love,"  "  God  is  Justice,"  "  God  is  Holiness."  Men 
have  them,  as  I  said,  as  qualities,  but  God  as  substantial  realities, 
and  parts  of  his  very  being. 

Now,  the  relation  of  finite  beings  towards  the  Infinite  God, 
being  such  as  I  have  observed,  such  too  being  the  nature  of  God, 
it  follows  that  the  Revelation,  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  Adam,  must 
have  been  to  him  the  supreme  law  of  action  in  a  moral  point  of 
view,  an  indwelling,  we  may  say,  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  heart 
with  a  law  infallible  of  action,  thought,  and  word.  And  that  not 
€ts  to  us,  but  immediate,  intuitive,  direct,  requiring  nought  of 
thought,  labor,  or  experience,  but  at  onoe  and  immediate  to  his 
mind. 

And  this  immediate  discernment,  or  rather  presence  of  God,  as 
the  Supreme  Good,  the  Supreme  Rule  of  Good,  brought  about  by 
the  Supernatural  Gift  of  the  Spirit,  is  that  of  which  mention  is 
made  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament,  as  "seeing  God." 

*  The  reader  will  please  look  back  to  the  quotation  from  Bp.  Beveridge, 
in  the  note  on  page  27,  as  to  the  phrase,  "  I  am  "  belonging  to  God. 


36  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

And  in  this  manifestly  the  highest  perfection  of  a  finite  being 
that  is  good  must  consist ;  this  gift  being  withdrawn  he  will  not 
be  perfect,  although  his  nature  still  may  be  good. 

Now  I  can  appeal  to  every  one,  whether  the  yearnings  of  the 
heart  do  not  answer  back  to  this  picture ;  whether  we  do  not  yearn 
after  an  higher  good ;  whether  we  do  not  feel  that  an  internal  good 
dwelling  in  us,  but  not  of  us,  and  at  once  revealing  to  us  the 
Highest  Good,  and  being  it,  whether  this  is  not  that  which  we  feel 
at  once  most  suitable  and  most  desirable  to  our  nature  ? 

Man  feels  himself  to  be  no  fiend,  he  feels  himself  to  be  no  beast, 
he  feels  his  nature  to  be  essentially,  that  is,  in  its  own  being,  good; 
but  that  there  is  a  correlative  wanting  to  it,  because  of  which  it  is 
imperfect.  This  he  knows  from  the  first  moment  of  existence  to 
the  last.  And  as  this,  his  Supernatural  Gift  and  aid,  has  been 
withdrawn  from  him,  thereby  his  Nature,  although  still  it  is  good, 
is  "very  far  gone  from  Original  Righteousness." 

Now  with  regard  to  man's  own  natui'e,  in  its  being,  is  there 
any  change  in  it  ?  And  if  there  be,  what  in  kind  and  what  in 
degree  ? 

If  my  reader  will  turn  back  a  few  pages,  he  will  see  that  there 
I  recount  various  objects  of  pursuit  which  men  make  ruling  objects 
of  their  life.  He  will  see  that  these  range  from  the  very  low  to 
the  very  high,  so  that  very  distinctly  men  shall  say,  "to  make  this 
a  governing  desire  and  leading  object  of  life,  is  base  and  mean," 
the  pleasures  of  sense,  for  instance,  and  "this"  intellectual  plea- 
sure for  instance,  "is  higher,"  and  this  moral  object,  the  "sense 
of  duty,"  for  instance,  higher  still.  Which  observation,  leads  at 
once  to  the  conclusion,  that  of  our  whole  nature,  no  part,  to  speak 
in  a  general  way,  being  anything  but  good  in  itself — there  are 
some  parts  subordinate  and  some  superior.  Hence  is  it  that  the 
perfection  of  our  nature  does  and  must  consist  in  this  subordina- 
tion or  due  proportion  and  harmony  of  the  whole  nature. 

We  will  illustrate  it  a  little  more.  There  are  manifestly  govern- 
ing powers  in  man.  The  AYill,  the  Conscience,  the  Afiections, 
the  Reason — these  are  good  always,  at  all  times,  as  governing 
powers,  guiding  man  on  his  course.  We  say  not  any  one  of  these 
separately,  but  all  of  them  together,  as  the  proper  governing 
powers  of  man. 

Then  come  passions,  desires,  feelings,  appetites,  instincts. 

These  are  manifestly  good  also,  but  only  in  their  place,  and  in 


HUMAN  NATURE.  87 

their  time,  and  not  at  all  times,  or  in  all  places;  and  not  at  all  as 
ruling  or  guiding,  but  as  being  ruled  and  guided. 

Now  herein  is  man's  nature  of  itself,  in  consequence  of  the  Fall, 
weakened,  that  the  lower  faculties,  the  passions,  desires,  feelings, 
appetites,  instincts,  these  tend  to  assume  the  place  of  the  higher, 
and  themselves  to  rule  when  they  ought  to  he  ruled. 

And  secondly,  the  ruling  faculties  are  weakened  so  as  to  permit 
this  insubordination.  The  Will  is  weakened,  or  loses  its  power  in 
various  ways;  the  Conscience  as  a  faculty,  is  in  varioiis  ways 
injured ;  the  Affections  perverted  to  unsuitable  objects,  or  wholly 
alloyed  by  the  passions,  and  the  Reason  obscured. 

For  this,  too,  we  appeal  to  no  dry  discussion,  but  to  man's 
nature  and  to  the  experience  of  every  man  that  has  ever  thought. 
Who  is  the  man  that  is  naturally  the  best  in  your  circle  of  ac- 
quaintance ?  Why,  it  is  that  man  that  unites,  in  the  greatest  per- 
fection, these  four  governing  powers, — first,  the  Will, — he  that 
having  a  straight,  definite,  decided  course  before  him,  pursues  it 
with  decision  and  energy  from  day  to  day ;  second,  the  Conscience, 
— ^who  in  that  course  makes  it  his  main  object  to  go  according  to 
his  sense  of  right  and  wrong ;  third,  the  Affections, — ^he  who,  as 
regards  his  brethren,  observes  the  great  Christian  rule  of  "loving 
his  neighbour  as  himself;"  and  fourth,  the  Reason, — who  tempers 
all  this  into  a  harmonious  and  consistent  course  by  a  cgnsiderate 
mind.  This  man  manifestly  is  the  man,  that  of  our  neighbours 
we  judge  and  see  to  be  the  best,  having  perhaps  the  inferior 
qualities  as  strong  as  others  have,  but  ruling  them  by  these  powers, 
which  ought  to  rule. 

And  again,  when  we  look  about  for  those  whom  we  count  the 
worst,  we  see  that  they  are  the  men  whose  conduct  is  not  ruled  by 
these  ruling  qualities,  but  by  some  of  the  lower  and  baser  ones. 

And  in  ourselves,  do  we  not  in  our  inmost  soul,  whenever  we 
feel  that  we  have  acted  wrongly,  whenever  we  have  a  conscious- 
ness of  evil  or  of  sin,  do  we  not  always  know  and  feel,  "  Oh !  that 
my  Will  were  perfect ;  Oh !  that  my  Conscience  were  a  sure  and 
certain  guide,  my  Affections  rightly  directed,  and  my  Reason  as 
clear  and  active  as  it  might  be  ;  if  this  were  so,  then  would  I  he 
perfect!"  Manifestly  this  is  the  feeling  of  all  men ;  an  universal 
persuasion  this,  of  all  men  and  all  ages,  that  declares  the  one 
source  of  man's  imperfections  of  nature,  to  be  in  the  insubordina- 
tion of  his  facvlties. 


38  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Man's  nature  then  may  be  good,  nay,  each  faculty  of  it  may  be 
good,  and  yet  the  nature  in  itself  be  a  fallen  one,  as  an  insubordi- 
nate, a  di&turbed  one. 

The  consequences  then  of  the  fall,  are  these :  First,  that  the 
Supernatural  Gift  is  withdrawn,  which  revealed  God  to  thy  nature 
immediately ;  and  Secondly,  because  of  this,  thy  nature,  which 
would  have  answered,  and  did  answer,  by  its  law  unto  God  the 
Supreme  Law,  is  insubordinate.  These  are,  according  to  the 
Ethical  doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church  of  antiquity,  the  precise 
injuries  inflicted  upon  man  by  the  fall.     These  and  none  else. 

Now  if  we  shall  look  at  our  present  nature  as  fallen,  having 
clearly  and  distinctly  in  mind  these  truths,  we  shall  see  what  is 
the  real  and  true  measure  of  good  to  the  present  man.  We  shall 
see  that  it  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  that  it  was  to  Adam  in 
Paradise,  the  being  and  qualities  of  God,  and  the  being  in  our- 
selves like  to  him. 

And  in  order  that  this  should  be  so,  when  we  consider  the  pre- 
vious elements  of  the  problem,  there  must  be  two  things.  In  the 
first  place,  there  must  be  a  feeling  of  this  in  our  nature,  existing 
and  capable  of  looking  even  blindly  and  by  instinct  towards  Him. 
In  the  second  place,  there  must  be  outward  agencies  at  work  upon 
us,  that  will  call  into  action  that  natural  feeling,  just  as  the  sun 
and  rain,  the  influences  of  the  seasons,  call  forth  the  germ  in  the 
plant.  That  man's  nature  is  good,  that  of  itself  it  is  not  indif- 
ferent or  fiendish,  but  made  "in  the  image,"  this  afibrds  the  first 
requisite.  The  nature  of  man,  of  itself,  feels  its  own  disorder, 
and  it  desires  to  be  ordered  and  ruled  by  a  superior  Will,  and 
looks  after  and  towards  it  blindly,  as  the  new-born  child  for  the 
mother's  breast  will  open  and  close  its  mouth,  and  desire  what  it 
does  not  know,  but  knows  yet  that  something  is  wanting. 

I  could  go  over  the  Heathen  writers  antecedent  to  Christ,  both 
Greek  and  Roman,  and  also  the  more  ancient  philosophy  of  the 
Hindoos,  Chinese  and  original  Persians,  now  opened  to  us  by  the 
industry  of  the  modern  oriental  scholars  of  England,  Germany 
and  France,  as  well  as  the  Northern  Mythology,  and  show  by 
them,  that  apart  from  all  revelation,  and  before  it,  the  attempts  in 
Moral  Science  of  unassisted  nature  rush  towards  God  as  the 
**  Supreme  Good,"  and  supreme  standard  of  good,  and  will  be  con- 
tented with  no  standard  lower. 

But  I  seek  not  to  make  a  parade  of  learning,  and  I  merely  as- 


HUMAN  NATUHE.  >89 

flert  the  fact  that  it  is  so,  and  leave  it  to  each  thinking  individual 
to  measure  his  own  experience  of  his  own  nature,  and  he  will  find 
it  to  be  so. 

I  assert,  also,  that  from  these  writings  evidence  just  as  strong 
can  be  given  that  the  evil  of  nature  was  felt  to  be  that  which  I 
have  said,  the  evil  of  "  insubordination" ;  and  the  perfection  of  Hu- 
man Nature,  the  perfection  of  the  Eternal  Presence,  or  as  they 
phrase  it,  "the  direct  contact"  of  a  Supreme  Rule  and  the  power 
of  obeying  it. 

In  fact,  in  the  Ethical  writers  of  the  heathen,  we  can  see  per- 
petually the  struggle  towards  these  conclusions,  and  they  come 
the  nearer,  the  higher  and  loftier  their  Ethics  are.  But  bring- 
ing this  in  merely  as  confirmatory,  I  go  on  the  further  inquiries 
connected  with  the  subject. 

Now,  having  come  so  far  as  to  give  a  matter-of-fact  example, 
proving  that  although  man  is  fallen,  still  is  God  to  him  the  Su- 
preme Good,  and  the  standard  of  good,  we  shall  make  one  observ- 
ation, and  then  go  to  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter.  If  this  be 
BO,  is  it  not  manifest  that  to  the  natural  man  there  must  be  natu- 
rally some  revelation  of  Cfod  ?  And  that  not  merely  to  the  man, 
generically  considered,  but  to  each  individual  man,  is  it  not  neces- 
sary that  there  be  a  mode  which  communicates  to  him  the  feeling 
of  God,  now  that  his  Direct  Presence  is  departed ;  and  this  by 
nature,  apart  totally  and  entirely  from  Christianity  ?  So  that  even 
to  those  who  have  not  heard  of  the  name  of  Christ,  still  do  they 
make  God  the  measure  of  moral  good,  and  no  other  fancied  or 
thought-out  standard ;  or  that,  in  other  words,  the  Spiritual  has 
an  access  to  man  by  his  position,  and  by  his  very  constitution  and 
being. 

This  manifestly  is  so,  or  else  all  the  other  truths  are  useless  and 
invalid.  This  subject,  therefore,  hozo  it  is  that  even  to  man,  as  he 
in  at  present,  God  is  the  "  Supreme  Standard  of  all  Morality," 
is  that  to  which  I  shall  devote  the  ensuing  chapter. 


40  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

God  has  external  means  whereby  he  conveys  His  Knowledge  unto  Man. — 
1.  External  Nature.  2dly.  Society. — The  operation  of  External  nature 
upon  man's  moral  being  explained. — The  operation  of  Society  is  two  fold — 
first,  of  Law ;  second,  of  traditional  knowledge  or  Opinion,  whereof  Society 
is  a  channel. 

Our  first  question  is,  how  is  it  that  to  man,  even  as  a  fallen 
being,  God  is  still  the  Supreme  Standard  of  Moral  Good,  and  that 
his  nature  having  lost  its  self-governing  power,  and  the  direct  con- 
tact of  God  with  it  being  withdrawn,  man  still  measures  all  good 
by  God  ? 

The  answer  is,  that  man's  nature  being  good,  the  instinct  of 
this,  his  constitution,  must  lead  him  naturally,  although  blindly, 
towards  God.  And  secondly,  there  must  be  corresponding  to  that 
instinctive  feeling,  external  influences  that  draw  forth  the  instinct 
of  nature  into  consciousness,  as  the  Sun  upon  the  earth  draws  up 
the  germ  of  the  plant  underneath  until  it  rises  into  the  light. 

Now,  in  reference  to  our  own  nature  or  internal  being,  we  call 
all  other  objects  external — all  those  influences  that  bear  upon  us 
from  without  are  external.  And  things  external  are  divided  into' 
two  parts,  Nature  and  Society.  And  the  question  may  be  easily 
solved  by  asking,  are  there  moral  ideas  connected  with  Nature  and 
with  Society  ?  For  then,  since  Nature  exists  before  the  individual 
man  is  born,  and  he  is  introduced  into  the  world  as  into  a  school, 
then  if  there  be  ideas  of  God  connected  naturally  with  the  objects 
of  the  external  world,  we  are  able  to  see  how  the  germ  in  him  may 
be  awakened,  and  the  dormant  life  excited  to  action. 

And  in  like  manner,  as  Society  existed  before  him,  and  he  is 
born  into  it ;  so  if  Society  have  the  idea  of  God,  it  can  suggest  it 
to  him,  and  thus  awaken  his  nature  and  be  a  school  jof  teaching 
to  it. 

From  the  earliest  times  we  find  an  association  of  ideas  that  con- 
nects Nature  with  God,  and  makes  each  object  of  the  material 
world  a  letter  in  the  "great  alphabet  that  speaks  of  Him."  Nor 
is  it  a  vain  fancy  that  of  the  old  Arabs,  who,  seeing  upon  the  film 
of  the  locust's  wing  the  semblance  of  the  letters  of  their  own 
language,  read  them  into  the  words,  "Desolation  of  Godj"  and 


HUMAN  NATURE.  4X 

connecting  the  stars  by  linesf  and  thereby  tracing  letters  in  the 
heavens,  thence  strove  to  discover  an  alphabet  of  the  heavenly 
wisdom.*  For  in  truth,  had  we  but  the  eye,  were  but  our  senses 
sharpened  to  penetrate  into  the  infinite  subtlety  of  the  teachings 
of  this  that  we  call  Nature,  so  that  we  could  discern  them  and  be 
conscious  of  them,  as  we  are  influenced  by  them  unconsciously,  we 
should  see  that  Nature  is  nought  else  than  a  means  of  bringing 
the  Knowledge  of  God  close  to  us ;  of  awakening  in  us  the  sleep- 
ing germs  of  Spiritual  Knowledge.  And  we  should  find  that  not 
a  leaf  upon  a  tree  struck  our  sight  even  unnoticed  amid  the 
myriads  of  other  leaves,  not  a  sand  upon  the  shore  among  millions 
has  made  its  unregarded  impression  upon  our  sight,  but  that  has 
tended  to  convey  to  us  moral  knowledge  of  God,  the  Supreme 
Good. 

And  as  the  drops  of  rain  being  countless  that  have  fallen  upon 
a  given  field,  have  nevertheless  each  single  drop  a  definite  and 
estimable  amount  in  the  sum  of  the  harvest,  only  that  it  would 
take  the  calculus  of  Infinite  Knowledge  to  estimate  it ;  so  the 
manifold  impressions  from  day  to  day,  from  hour  to  hour,  of 
Natural  Objects,  these  all,  although  we  are  unconscious  of  itj 
yet  tend  to  form  in  us  the  idea  of  God.  Perhaps  I  should  not  say 
to  form,  but  to  call  out  the  germs  that  exist  in  our  own  being,  as 
made  in  the  Image,  to  call  them  out  and  bid  them  expand. 

Perhaps  the  idea  here  attempted  to  be  expressed  as  a  fact  of 
Ethical  science,  the  idea,  that  is,  of  an  Ethical  teaching  of  nature, 
that  is  universal  and  pours  its  influence  unremittingly  from  the 
smallest  as  well  as  the  grandest  objects,  might  be  as  well  set 
before  the  reader  in  half  a  dozen  of  verses,  which  I  remember  to 
have  seen  somewhere,  in  which  the  author  has  expressed  the  same 
+^^"'Tht  very  nearly. 

"  Oh !  that  mine  ears  were  open,  Lord, 
Oh  !  that  mine  eyes  could  see, 
Then  flower,  and  star,  and  little  bird, 
Would  bloom,  and  shine,  and  sing  of  Thee. 

Then  on  the  world's  broad  face, 
Now  so  opaque  and  dim, 
The  alphabet  of  heaven  I'd  trace. 
And  every  line  should  tell  of  Him. 

*  For  this  alphabet,  see  the  works  of  the  learned  Gataker. 
6 


42  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Then,  sounding  clear  from  ooean's  gloom. 
Like  a  far-heard  organ  peal, 
Then  booming  up  from  the  central  womb 
Of  things  I  know  not,  yet  can  feel 

The  sounds  that  now  mysterious  sweep 
Across  my  saddening  soul. 
As  thunder  clouds  that  o'er  the  deep 
Their  gloomy  shadows  roU , 

These  sounds  that  now,  confused  and  dim, 
Vague  sorrow  bring  from  far, 
Clear  should  they  speak — my  heart  should  speak 
To  the  heart  of  every  star. 

All  living  creatures  then  shotild  speak 
"With  wisdom  manifold. 
And  wide  creation  that  deep  silence  break, 
She  held  since  Adam's  fall  of  old." 


These  verses,  although  I  must  say  that  the  verse  is  of  a  very 
unpolished  description,  seem  nevertheless  to  express  the  same 
feeling  and  persuasion. 

But  the  same  thing  is  clearly  and  distinctly  asserted  in  the 
19th  Psalm.  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
firmament  showeth  his  handy  work.  One  day  telleth  another, 
and  one  night  certifieth  another;  there  is  neither  speech  nor 
language,  but  their  voices  are  heard  among  them,  their  sound  is 
gone  out  into  all  lands  and  their  words  unto  the  ends  of  the  world." 

In  fact,  from  all  languages,  and  from  all  nations,  we  might 
bring  full  proofs  of  this  fact,  "that  all  men  feel  and  know  that 
the  outward  world  in  all  its  influences  upon  man  is  a  teaching  of 
God,  an  interpretation,  as  it  were,  of  Him,  to  our  limited  intel- 
lects ;  a  hiding  away,  and  dimming  of  His  glory,  that  so  it  may 
be  softened  and  adapted  to  our  sight."  But  still,  from  the  smallest 
as  well  as  the  greatest  objects  that  strike  the  sense,  there  flows  a 
teaching,  beginning  with  our  life  and  ending  only  with  our  death, 
which  we  can  never  shut  out. 

And  that  this  perpetually  presents  unto  us,  or  rather  cherishes 
in  us,  in  a  due  measure  as  we  can  bear  it,  the  idea  of  God,  his 
Power,  Mercy  and  Wisdom.  And  that  although  men  may,  be- 
cause they  are  not  conscious  of  it,  dream  that  it  is  not  so,  still 


HUMAN  NATUKE.  48 

that  there  is  such  a  thing  in  the  science  of  Ethics  as  teaching, 
which  being  real  is  yet  unconscious.     And  that  it  is  so  with  this. 

Upon  which  matter  of  moral  teaching  being  real,  although  we 
are  unconscious  of  it,  I  shall,  perhaps,  at  a  future  time  of  this 
essay  have  some  words  to  say.  In  the  mean  time,  I  say,  that 
manifestly  Nature,  the  face  of  outward,  inanimate  Nature,  is  a 
teacher  to  us  of  God,  and  from  the  greatest  and  from  the  smallest 
objects,  at  all  times,  moral  teaching  is  flowing  incessantly  and  per- 
petually upon  each  man.  And  although  but  seldom  we  may  know 
of  it,  and  but  in  extraordinary  cases  and  under  extraordinary 
circumstances  are  we  struck  with  it,  still,  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
places,  is  such  an  influence  acting  upon  us. 

And  for  the  truth  of  this,  I  have  to  appeal  to  the  general  sense 
and  persuasion,  and  the  universal  reason  of  mankind. 

But  leaving  External  Nature  alone,  we  shall  come  now  to  the 
other  sphere  into  which  man  is  born,  that  of  Society,  and  proceed 
to  examine  what  influence  it  has  upon  man  in  revealing  to  him 
God,  or  bringing  forlh  the  idea  or  image  of  God  that  is  in  him  by 
nature. 

And  here  we  find  a  very  distinct  and  manifest  influence.  An 
influence  that  tells  upon  man  in  Society  as  an  instructor,  in  and 
of  the  nature  of  Good.  The  influence  of  Law.  A  second  influ- 
ence, also,  the  influence  of  Knowledge,  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.     Upon  these  two  we  shall  remark. 

And  first,  upon  the  influence  of  Law  in  general.  We  have 
stated  it  as  our  belief  that  the  organizations  of  Society  are  un- 
changeable ;  that  the  Family,  the  Nation  and  the  Church  are 
always  to  remain  as  they  always  have  been,  and  that  man  is  never 
without  them,  has  never  been  without  them. 

Now,  in  virtue  of  this  fact  of  the  perpetual  duration  of  these 
forms  of 'organization,  there  is  a  ruling  spirit  in  each  of  them ;  in 
the  Family,  the  Law  of  Love ;  in  the  Nation,  the  Law  of  Justice ; 
in  the  Church,  the  Law  of  Holiness ;  a  threefold  division  of  the 
one  Spirit,  that  influence  the  manifestation  of  which  we  call 
"  Law."     Now,  what  is  this  ? 

We  take  a  description  of  it  from  a  book*  of  our  own,  satisfied 
that  the  reader  will  not  object  to  this  if  it  give  an  answer  to  the 
question. 

*  *'  HetGj  to  Babes,  a  Plea  for  the  Christian  Baptism  of  Infants." 


44  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

This  is  an  influence  from  wliicli  in  the  state  none  can  be  free. 
Through  all  the  institutions  of  society  it  speaks,  for  these  are  its 
embodiments.  The  Magistrate,  the  Husband,  the  Parent,  are 
mouth-pieces  of  this  Eternal  Spirit.  To  all  men  it  speaks,  to  all 
classes  and  individuals ;  it  reaches  even  to  the  babe  on  its  mother's 
knee.  To  the  good,  it  is  the  secret  plastic  force  of  Society,  which 
works  upon  them  almost  unconsciously,  framing  and  forming  them 
ever  with  a  gentle  and  omnipresent  influence  ;  unfelt,  yet  not  the 
less  real.  To  the  bad,  it  is  a  force  external  and  severely  felt, 
sternly  thundering  out  its  penalties,  its  sanctions  and  its  punish- 
ments, placing  against  them  a  barrier  they  cannot  leap,  and  calling 
to  its  aid,  even  when  men  the  most  reject  it,  powers  in  man's  own 
breast  and  being,  and  in  the  feelings  of  his  fellows,  and  even  in 
the  elements  themselves,  which  do  and  will  execute  its  decrees. 

Men  have  felt  this,  aad  felt  that  there  is  something  divine  in 
Law,  and  the  loftiest  and  holiest  have  concluded  that  this  that  we 
call  law  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  influence  and  operation 
of  the  Will,  and  Power  and  Justice  of  "  the  Almighty  and  All- 
governing  God." 

Thus  having  spoken  of  Law,  we  ask  our  readers  to  avoid  one 
very  common  error,  when  they  think  of  it ;  the  error  of  imagining 
corporeal  things  to  be  the  only  realities.  A  good  many  do  so — 
they  think  bread  and  meat,  &c.,  things  that  we  can  see,  and  touch, 
and  taste,  and  feel  the  only  realities ;  whereas  there  are  other 
things,  just  as  solid  and  substantial  realities,  honesty,  and  jus- 
tice, and  love,  and  truth,  these  are  just  as  much  realities  as  if 
you  could  handle  them,  or  see  them,  or  feel  them.  Now,  this  that 
we  call  Law  is  of  this  class,  a  strong  and  true  reality,  and  yet  not 
to  be  handled  or  touched. 

It  is,  too,  that  means  by  which  mediately  the  Will  of  God  is 
conveyed  to  us  as  in  a  channel,  which  to  the  primitive  man  was  di- 
rectly and  immediately  given  from  the  Almighty ;  it  is  the  veil  in 
which,  now  that  through  man's  weakness  his  eyes  are  feeble,  so 
that  he  cannot  look  upon  the  full  blaze  of  Glory,  God  shrouds  his 
efi"ulgence  and  tempers  it  to  our  sight ;  it  is  the  spirit  which  from 
all  Nature  he  pours  upon  man  (as  the  imponderable  fluids  of  natural 
philosophy  are  poured  from  material  things)  to  teach  him  of  God. 

And  well  and  truly  does  it  teach  him,  for  it,  "the  Law,"  is  the 
revealer  of  God  to  the  natural  man. 

For  God,  being  the  supreme  fountain  and  standard  of  Good, 


^. 


HUMAN  NATURE.  4^- 

Law,  that  is,  obedience  to  and  compliance  with  law,  is  to  the 
natural  man  the  highest  rule  of  all  action,  that  by  which  as 
far  as  natural  action  goes,  he  shall  attain  to  the  highest  truth  of 
Hfe. 

But  that  not  one  Law,  but  all  Law  in  one  agreeing  and  uniting. 
First,  the  "  Law  of  man's  own  nature,"  the  law  of  the  ruling 
powers  of  "Conscience,"  "the  Will,"  "the  Affections,"  "the 
Reason."  These  are  the  faculties  that  make  him  capable  of  obe- 
dience to  the  voice  of  God.  And  then  the  Actual  and  External 
"Law,"  which  teaching  and  educating  this  inward  faculty,  em- 
ploys three  schools  for  man ;  three,  courts,  if  I  may  so  say,  of 
law.  The  one  which  teaches  and  enforces  the  law  of  obedience 
and  the  law  of  the  affections,  that  is  the  Family.  The  second,  the 
law  of  "right"  concerning  "life  and  property,"  which  of  course 
implies  justice  and  equity,  that  is  the  State.  The  third,  whose 
teaching  is  the  law  of  Holiness,  the  Church. 

Putting  these  conclusions  together,  I  say,  if  any  one  asks  me 
how  a  natural  man,  (apart  from  the  influences  of  Grace,)  shall  try 
to  reach  the  good  of  his  nature  in  the  highest  degree,  and  what  is 
the  rule  that  he  should  make  his  object  to  apply  in  act,  thought, 
and  word;  I  say  it  is  nought  but  this,  "the  Law  and  the  whole 
Law." 

The  natural  man  finds  the  law  of  his  nature  to  be  virtue* — that 
his  conscience  should,  each  moment  of  his  life,  be  attended  to  and 
deferred  to,  so  that  he  should  obey  this,  for  by  this  faculty  it  is 
that  the  feeling  of  Law  is  manifested  to  us  the  first.  His  nature 
and  whole  being  will  assert  to  him  that  he  ought  so  to  do.  Let 
him  then,  at  any  risk,  and  at  any  sacrifice,  set  himself  to  obey 
his  Conscience,  and  to  go  according  to  its  suggestions,  and  he 
will  find  the  light,  that  perhaps  at  first  was  a  faint  twinkle 
upon  the  remotest  horizon,  become  brighter,  clearer,  steadier, 
larger, — he  will  find  obedience  easier,  and  finally  it  will  become 
habitual. 

And  then,  having  gone  upon  this  for  a  time  with  all  his  might, 
next  will  awaken  in  him  the  sense  and  feeling  of  the  Affections  as 
part  of  the  guiding  and  governing  powers  of  man's  life,  and  he  will 
feel  that  gentleness,  wisdom,  patience,  love,  considerateness,  mercy, 
kindness — that  these,  somehow  or  other,  give  him  a  rule  over 

*  "Virtue  is  the  law  of  our  nature." — ^Bp.  Btttlib. 


4^  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

himself  and  over  others,  -which  he  could  not  at  first  comprehend, 
or,  indeed,  at  all  perceive.* 

And  then,  if  he  act  consistently  upon  this  that  he  has  attained, 
he  shall  come  to  feel  the  value  of  the  will,  of  decision  and  energy 
in  a  course  of  straight  forward  travel,  in  a  way  set  out  and  ap- 
pointed for  him  by  himself. 

And  the  Reason,  too,  shall  come  in,  although  the  last,  and 
declare  and  show  itself  to  him  ;  and  to  obey  these  four,  which  all 
are  the  law  of  our  nature,  is  to  cultivate  the  principles  of  obedience 
to  all  law  wherever  we  find  it. 

These  four,  and  in  this  order,  Conscience  first,  then  the  Afiec- 
tions,  and  then  the  Will,  and  then  the  Reason ;  each  as  a  rule  of 
conduct  is  manifested  to  man  when  he  has  actually,  and  in  action, 
made  the  other  preceding  it,  a  steady  rule  of  his  life. 

And  as  schools  and  legislative  institutions  to  aid  us  in  this  self- 
discipline,  there  are  the  institutions  I  have  mentioned.  This  is 
the  moral  perfection  of  the  natural  man ;  and  for  him,  as  far  as 
his  nature  and  his  position  is  concerned,  if  he  wishes  to  attain  this 
perfection,  the  institutions  are  just  as  needful  as  is  the  moral 
nature. 

Now,  he  that  shall  look  at  this  influence  of  Society  upon  man 
that  we  call  "  Law,"  must  see  that  it  is  directly  and  immediately 
a  good  one,  and  that  the  only  thing  that  possibly  can  make  it  evil, 
is  that  it  is  partial  occasionally,  that  interest  is  made  to  over- 
ride the  law  of  Conscience,  the  law  of  the  State  to  smother  that 
of  the  Family,  or  of  the  Reason  to  destroy  that  of  the  Conscience ; 

*"  Gentleness,  virtue,  wisdom,  and  endurance, 
These  are  the  seals  of  that  most  firm  assurance, 
Which  bars  the  pit  over  destruction's  strength. 

And  if,  with  infirm  hand,  Eternity, 
Mother  of  many  acts  and  hours,  should  free 
The  serpent  that  would  clasp  her  with  its  length, 
These  are  the  spells  by  which  to  reassume 
An  empire  o'er  the  disentangled  doom. 

To  suffer  woes  which  hope  thinks  infinite, 
To  forgive  wrongs  darker  than  death  or  night, 
To  love  and  bear,  to  hope  till  hope  creates 
From  its  own  wreck,  the  thing  it  contemplates. 
This,  like  thy  glory,  Titan,  is  to  be 
Good,  great,  and  joyous,  beautiful  and  free, 
This  is  alone,  Life,  Joy,  Empire  and  Liberty.'* 


HUMAN  NATURE.  ^ 

these  things  excepted,  the  Law  is  a  teacher  wholly  good,  and  is 
the  great  means  of  advance  to  the  mere  natural  man. 

The  resolution  to  uphold  it  in  all  difficulties,  to  defer  to  it,  and 
to  act  accordingly,  this  is  the  one  and  only  meafis  of  natural 
morality  to  individuals  or  to  States* — the  only  standard  and  the 
only  source  of  it. 

I  may  be  permitted  here,  in  opposition  to  the  many  sophisters 
and  theorists  who  have  erected  standards  of  Ethics  from  Hobbes, 
who  thought  man  to  be  a  ravenous  beast  of  prey  at  eternal  war 
with  his  fellows,  and  therefore  concluded  that  his  leading  charac- 
ter was  fierce  and  warlike  selfishness,  down  to  Bentham,  who  took 
"  utility  "  for  the  "  supreme  rule  of  conduct," — I  may  be  permitted 
in  opposition  to  these  men,  to  urge  this  view,  that  Law  and  Duty, 
these  are  the  grand  standard  of  morals  for  the  Natural  Man,  and 
the  grand  means  of  self-development,  in  a  moral  way,  if  he 
would  cultivate  his  own  moral  nature,  just  as  I  have  shown  that 
by  means  of  these,  God  is  ever  to  man  the  Supreme  Standard  of 
Good. 

And  this  view  is  also  corroborated  by  the  word  of  Christ  to  a 
mere  natural  man,  who  asked  him,  "  Good  master,  what  shall  I  da 
that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ?" — and  his  answer  was,  "  Why  callest 
thou  me  good — there  is  none  Good  but  one,  that  is  God ;  if  thou 
wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments." 

How  completely  does  this  agree  with  the  doctrine  above  speci- 
fied, "none  Good  but  one," — the  supreme  fount  and  source — and 
the  supreme  law  and  standard — the  treasure  of  Good  in  every 
way,  is  God  the  Father  of  Heaven  and  Earth.  And  the  way  in 
which  that  is  reached  is  not  by  knowledge,  nor  by  wisdom,  nor  by 
deep  penetration,  but  by  Law ;  "  if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep 
the  commandments."  The  great  way  is  to  obey  the  law,  by  which 
he  manifests  himself,  the  law  of  God  in  whatever  way  it  is  shown, 
wherever  it  is  found. 

This  is  the  commandment  of  Christ  to  the  young  man ;  and  this, 

*  Of  Law,  there  can  be  no  less  acknowledged  than  that  her  seat  is  the 
bosom  of  God, — her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world :  all  things  in  heaven 
do  her  homage — the  very  least  as  feeling  her  care,  and  the  greatest  as  not 
exempted  from  her  power :  both  angels  and  men,  and  creatures  of  what  con- 
dition soever,  though  each  in  different  sort  and  manner,  yet  all  with  uniform 
consent,  admire  her  as  the  mother  of  their  peace  and  joy. — Hooker,  Ecclss. 
Polity. 


48  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE.  » 

to  the  man  wiio  is  of  Nature  apart  from  God's  Grace,  is  tlie  only 
power,  the  exclusive  means  of  moral  advancement. 

And  while  I  have  many  things  to  say  as  a  conclusion  to  this 
subject  upon  the  relation  of  the  Law  to  the  Gospel,  which  I  cannot 
take  up  now,  but  shall  speak  of  at  another  time,  inasmuch  as  there 
is  a  certain  proportion  to  be  observed,  which  to  break  through 
would  enlarge  this  treatise  immeasurably, — while  I  must  there- 
fore observe  this  proportion,  I  still  would  ask  of  my  readers  to 
remark  the  weight  of  the  Principle  I  have  been  urging,  and  exem- 
plifying as  the  principle  of  progress  in  morality  to  the  Natural 
Man. 

For  you  that  are  unbaptized  in  Christ's  Name  and  his  Faith, 
"  no  arrangement  of  external  circumstances,  planned  and  devised 
by  yourselves  or  others,  can  give  you  the  beginning  and  impetus 
of'  moral  progress ;  no  knowledge  or  learning,  no  philosophy  of 
mind,  or  subtle  examination  of  the  Nature  of  Man,  search  it  out ; 
no  acting  upon  "  Fundamental  Principles,"  or  Ethical  Theories, 
such  as  that  of  "Utility,"  that  of  Benevolence,  that  of  "  Sym- 
pathy," that  of  "Enlightened  Selfishness,"  that  of  "Nature,"  or 
any  other  theory  or  fundamental  notion ;  nor  aught  else  than  this, 
that  of  acting  up  to  Law  and  Duty  wherever  it  is  found.  Wher- 
ever from  Country,  from  Parents,  from  Society,  from  Con- 
science, from  Reason,  from  Revelation,  the  Commandments  come, 
— ^there,  "  if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments." 

Dwell  not  in  mere  sensibilities,  or  in  the  luxury  of  feeling ; 
dream  not  of  some  future  access  of  influences,  that  shall  whirl  you 
on  to  moral  perfection  by  a  tornado  of  overpowering  emotion,  but 
at  once,  and  now,  yield  to  and  obey  the  eternal  spirit  that  is  by 
you,  and  "  keep  the  commandments."  For  your  own  natural  con- 
stitution is  framed  according  unto  Law,  external  Nature  corres- 
ponds, and  Society  guides  and  directs  the  influences  of  Law  upon 
you.  And  all  these  are  but  the  appliances  and  means  whereby 
God,  the  Standard  of  Good,  is  brought  nigh  to  you. 

Central  art  thou,  child  of  man  !  among  all  these  moral  influ- 
ences ;  and  if  thou  wouldst  be  profited  of  them  all,  this  is  the  first 
and  the  only  step — the  only  beginning  of  moral  improvement  to 
man  upon  the  earth. 

And  the  first  and  only  way  to  enter  upon  this  path  is  by  the 
Conscience ;  then,  as  I  have  said,  the  Afiections,  as  a  Moral  Law, 
begin  to  exert  themselves ;  then  the  Reason,  and  then  the  Will.  . 


HUMAN  NATURE.  49 

How  this  is  connected  with  the  Gospel,  as  I  have  before  said,  I 
shall  leave  to  another  part  of  this  treatise ;  only  at  present  I 
shall  quote  two  passages  of  St.  Paul,  which  may  indicate  to 
Christians  the  future  course  of  consideration,  and  at  the  same 
time  afford  food  for  thought,  even  to  the  mere  Natural  Man. 

"  The  Law  is  Holy,  (and  spiritual,)  and  the  Commandment  Soly^ 
Just  and  G-ood."  And  again:  the  "Law  was  our  schoolmaster, 
to  lead  us  to  Christ." 

With  those  two  passages  I  shall  close  the  consideration  of  that 
one  of  the  two  external  influences  of  Society,  which  I  before  spoke 
of,  as  manifesting  unto  man  God  the  Supreme  Good. 

Again.  Another  means  whereby  God  works  upon  man,  is  what 
we  call  Tradition,  "  the  power  that  is  in  Society,  by  which,  if  any 
knowledge  of  God  be  committed  to  it,  it  shall  pass  down  from  one 
generation  to  another,  and  be  retained  as  water  in  a  channel,  and 
influence  men,  even  when  they  do  not  think  of  it,  even  when  they 
are  wholly  unconscious  of  its  workings." 

That  such  knowledge  shall  flow  in  the  channel  of  "the  life  of  a 
community  as  waters  in  the  channel  of  a  river,  that  it  shall  imbue 
the  child,  the  unlearned,  the  ignorant,  with  feelings,  knowledge 
and  persuasions ;  this  we  know  from  history." 

We  know,  for  instance,  that  among  all  nations  the  tradition  of 
a  deluge  remains ;  that  even  now,  so  many  years  from  the  event, 
Btill  the  narration  of  this  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  in 
various  shapes,  is  permanent,  and  abides  enduringly,  although 
it  have  been  changed  into  the  form  of  legend  and  fable. 

And  the  Prometheus  of  the  Greek  story,  who  stole  fire  from 
heaven,  and  thereby  restored  the  human  race ;  he,  nailed  by  angry 
Jupiter  upon  the  mountains  of  Caucasus,  between  heaven  and 
earth,  is  a  true  reflex  of  the  old  revelation  unto  Adam.  And 
among  the  Eastern  nations,  the  character  of  Gaudama,  born  of  a 
virgin,  to  be  the  Saviour  of  man,  was  formed  upon  the  old  tradi- 
tions of  Paradise,  concerning  a  future  Redeemer.  And  so  Brahma, 
Yishnu,  and  Seeva,  the  Hindu  trinity,  bear  witness  to  the  original 
revelation  of  Jehovah. 

For,  as  I  have  before  said,  there  is  this  peculiar  constitution  in 
Society,  this  peculiar  force,  that  nought  of  revelation  or  of  r^l^ 
gion  that  is  entrusted  to  it  escapes  it,  but  all  flows  onward,  ffpjn 
one  generation  to  another,  in  the  channel  of  tradition.     We  have 

indications  too  manifest  to  be  evaded,  that  arts  may  have  perished 

tj  oi  a  cos 


50  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  sciences  have  been  forgotten,  loftier  and  more  splendid  than 
are  now  known  to  man ;  that  nations  may  have  forgotten  the  his- 
tory of  their  own  renown,  and  lost  the  records  of  their  own  civil- 
ization ;  but  it  seems  as  if  there  were  in  Society  a  power  by  which 
that  which  is  moral  and  that  which  is  religious  shall,  under  mani- 
fold shapes  and  obscurations,  be  retained  and  enforced. 

For,  though  the  life  of  each  individual  man  is  but  short,  and 
our  generations  are  only  thirty  years  in  length,  still  the  generation 
is  not  as  a  wave,  wherein  all  the  particles  of  which  it  is  composed 
break  at  once,  and  simultaneously  are  lost ;  it  is  rather  as  the  flow 
of  a  river,  in  which  continuity  is  preserved  from  first  to  last,  or 
as  the  rope  in  which  the  deficiency  of  one  fibre  is  supplied  by 
others.  So  it  is  with  the  life  of  Society ;  for  all  purposes  of  knowl- 
edge, death  actually  makes  no  difference,  the  stream  continues  to 
flow,  although  old  particles  are  evaporated,  and  new  ones  enter 
within  it ;  the  school  abides  the  same,  although  the  pupils,  their 
education  perfected,  are  called  away,  for  other  pupils  are  entered 
therein. 

I  would  dwell  upon  this  a  little  more.  Because  of  the  faults  of 
the  speculations  of  our  latter  time,  I  would  urge  it  upon  my  readers 
more  thoroughly. 

It  has  seemed  to  be  forgotten  that  man  is  in  a  school,  in  a  state 
of  trial ;  and  therefore  man  has  got  into  the  notion  that  he  can 
MAKE  the  "  Law,"  that  which,  in  the  previous  part,  we  have  shown 
to  be  truly  and  really  the  voice  of  God.  So  men  have  thought 
that  they  could  make  this  that  they  call  "Public  Opinion,"  and 
that  we  have  called  Tradition.  They  call  it  so,  because  they  think 
that  it  comes  from  the  men  of  the  present  day ;  but  we  give  it  the 
other  name,  because  we  clearly  see  that  it  is  an  inheritance  handed 
down  (tradita)  from  the  Past. 

For  as  in  an  agricultural  country,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
improvements,*  as  we  call  them,  houses,  and  bams,  and  fences, 
cleared  and  cultivated  land,  which  no  man  can  take  away,  but  all 
must  leave  behind  them ;  which  descends  from  one  generation  to 
another,  and  the  importance  of  which  persons  having  been  born 
to  and  with  it  seldom  realize  until  they  go  to  a  new  country ;  so  is 
there  in  Society  a  certain  amount  of  teaching  upon  various  sub- 
jects, and  of  knowledge  that  descends  from  generation  to  genera- 

*  Among  Political  Economists,  this  is  called  "  Fixed  Capital."  The  rea- 
lons  for  the  names  are  manifest. 


HUMAN    NATURE.  61 

tion,  that  we  call  Tradition,  and  this  knowledge  men  for  the  most 
part  learn  without  appreciating  or  knowing  its  value,  just  as  men 
inherit  Fixed  Capital  without  knowing  what  relation  it  has  to  lahor 
and  property. 

We  would  dwell,  as  we  have  said,  a  little  more  upon  this  point. 
We  would  show  how  this  provision  is  adapted  to  our  nature.     Is  * 
it  not  a  fact  that  the  mind  awakens  but  a  short  time  comparatively 
after  birth,  say  a  year  or  two  years,  so  that  then  the  child  is  capa- 
ble of  receiving  impressions,  opinions,  ideas  ? 

Certainly  this  is  the  case.  It  receives  these,  then,  while  the 
judgment  is  immature,  the  knowledge  imperfect,  the  mind  itself 
feeble ;  nay,  this  reasoning  being  continues  more  or  less  unripe  for 
a  period  of  twenty  years,  and  this  very  period  is  the  time  in  which 
most  of  its  ideas  are  received.  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  ideas  we 
hold  and  act  upon,  during  our  life,  then  are  impressed  upon  us. 

This  idea,  I  confess,  was  first  fixed  upon  my  mind  by  a  conver- 
sation upon  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  in  which  a  clergyman 
of  some  ability  being  asked,  "Do  you  not  believe  Christianity 
upon  its  Evidences?"  answered,  "No:  I  believe  it  because  my 
mother  taught  me."  And,  really,  any  one  who  will  take  the  pains, 
may  find,  as  I  did,  that  it  is  the  fact  that  nine-tenths  of  his  opinions 
upon  any  one  subject  arise  from  this  teaching. 

He  will  find,  too,  that  it  is  suited  to  his  nature  ;  that  it  is  not 
for  nothing  that  he  is  so  long  immature  and  unripe,  but  that  it  is 
a  most  gracious  and  beneficent  arrangement  of  Providence,  by 
which  this  World  is  a  School  to  him,  and  that  knowledge  is  con- 
veyed to  him  that  is  suitable  to  his  nature.  Nay,  more  than  this, 
he  shall  find  that  only  that  kind  that  is  suitable  to  him,  shall  be 
received  and  taken  up  by  it,  all  else  rejected. 

And  this  Tradition  is  a  cord  made  up,  as  it  were,  of  three 
strands ;  it  is  a  stream  from  three  sources,  from  the  Nation,  the 
Family,  and  the  Church. 

In  each  of  these  we  shall  see  that  it  orisrinates  and  continues  to 

O 

operate.  Let  a  father  and  mother  be  honest,  and  their  honesty 
shall,  they  know  not  how,  communicate  itself  to  their  children. 
Let  justice,  or  veracity,  or  high  feeling,  or  natural  delicacy,  or 
any  other  moral  idea,  be  a  leading  one  of  the  parents,  and  the 
children,  by  this  natural  provision  we  have  spoken  of,  shall  take 
it  up.  And  it  shall  continue  in  the  family,  and  its  traces  be  seen 
after  seven  generations ;  for  the  child,  with  undoubting  mind  and 


62  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

unresisting  faith,  shall  receive  it  from  the  parents,  and  so  shall  it 
become  an  element  in  the  channel  of  Family  life,  and  flow  therein, 
we  had  almost  said,  forever. 

Let  the  pastor  in  his  church  have  the  high  and  lofty  feelings 
that  he  should  be  endued  with,  and  he  shall  find  that  by  means  of 
this,  they  shall  communicate  themselves  from  one  to  another ;  his 
flock  shall  receive  them  with  unresisting  faith,  and  years  after  he 
has  laid  in  the  grave  his  Good  shall  still  be  working. 

Let  the  Statesman  or  the  Magistrate  think  upon  it,  and  he 
shall  see  the  qualities  of  a  Chatham,  a  Washington,  or  an  Eliza- 
beth enter  into  the  channel  of  the  life  of  a  nation,  and  henceforth 
be,  until  the  end  of  time,  a  formative  power  over  the  character  of 
millions. 

For  the  reverse  of  what  the  poet  has  said  is  true,  "  The  Good 
that  men  do" — this  it  is  that  lives  after  them — "but  the  evil  is 
buried  with  their  bones." 

Two  things  more,  in  connection  with  this  subject,  I  would  ob- 
serve. First,  that  of  this  teaching  there  are  three  authoritative 
teachers  :  the  Parent,  the  Magistrate,  the  Pastor ;  and  in  refer- 
ence to  them  none  can  fill  their  places,  or  do  that  which  it  is  their 
business  to  do.  For  with  the  Child  towards  the  Parent,  in  reference 
to  this  teaching,  belief  is  easier  than  unbelief;  the  child  believes 
until  the  assertion  of  his  parent  be  disproved,  instead  of  disbe- 
lieving until  it  be  proved. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  Citizen  in  reference  to  the  Magistrate  as 
regards  fealty,  and  the  member  of  a  church  as  regards  his  Pastor. 
These  are  things  that  in  many  cases  are  called  prejudices  by  as- 
tonished Radicals  and  Destructionists,  and  yet  are  part  of  the 
morality  of  our  position,  and  explain  many  matters  in  history  and 
society  that  men  wonder  at  as  unaccountable. 

A  second  thing  I  would  remark  :  the  peculiar  mode  of  this  teach- 
ing. It  seems  to  have  an  inclination  almost  unconquerable  for  a 
"  viva  voce"  or  Oral  instruction.  The  parent  to  the  child  shall 
teach  more  by  a  little  simple  talk,  than  by  the  best  manual,  writ- 
ten or  printed.  Conversation  seems  peculiarly  the  mode  of  this 
traditional  teaching.  With  regard  to  the  pastor,  also,  I  have  no- 
ticed that  to  speak  with  his  people  face  to  face  has  a  predominant 
influence. 

We  have  stated  that  these  two  influences  are  teachers,  means, 
■end  instruments  of  a  peculiar  teaching.    We  are  aware  that  men 


HUMAN  NATUEE.  Bt 

may  dispute  it,  may  even  consider  it  an  absurdity,  and  attribute 
to  the  aggregate  of  individuals  that  -which  we  attribute  to  Society 
as  a  true  and  real  organization^ 

We,  however,  submit  two  considerations  that  may  help  men  to 
reach  out  to  our  apprehension  of  the  matter. 

And  previously  we  will  place  before  them  our  conception  of  the 
position  of  man.  He  is  under  one  class  of  influences  from  which 
no  being  born  into  the  world  can  be  free,  those  of  external  nature 
— under  the  same  class  of  influences  to  which  the  animals  are  sub- 
ject, and  they  produce  in  him  moral  ideas,  while  in  the  animals  we 
have  no  reason  to  imagine  that  they  do  so.     This  is  one  School. 

There  is  another ;  that  of  Society,  with  its  twofold  influences, 
which  we  have  just  explained,  of  Law  and  Tradition,  its  authorized 
teachers  of  Parents,  Magistrates  and  Priests,  its  indestructible 
organization  or  threefold  school,  to  which  these  belong.  Now  the 
decisive  question  as  to  the  true  and  real  existence  of  these  is  not, 
"can  men  do  without  them ?"  for  men's  speculations  are  far  dif- 
ferent from  facts,  and  as  a  fact  men  have  never  been  without  them ; 
but  this  it  is — "the  moral  results  that  are  produced  by  these  means, 
are  they  producible  otherwise  ?" 

Take  a  child  in  childhood,  let  him  be  completely  isolated  from 
Parents,  from  the  Church,  from  Society,  and  will  moral  ideas  arise 
spontaneously  in  his  mind  ?  Will  those  feelings,  opinions  and  be-: 
liefs,  which  we  see  kept,  as  it  were,  in  solution  in  the  stream  of 
life,  imbuing  each  individual,  and  thus  passed  down  from  one  to 
another  generation,  will  these  arise  in  his  mind  spontaneously? 

And  as  the  answer,  we  have  authentic  records  of  perhaps  a 
dozen  of  children,  who  were  lost  before  their  mind  could  be  so  in- 
fluenced by  the  Family,  the  Nation,  and  the  Church,  and  no  moral 
ideas  were  developed  in  them,  no  intellectual  ones — they  were  per- 
fectly without  them. 

From  which  we  draw  not  the  opinion  that  moral  and  intellectual 
ideas  are  completely  artificial — but  two  conclusions,  first,  that  the 
innate  principles  of  man's  being  are  as  those  of  a  bulb  or  root ; 
that  there  is  a  certain  outward  condition  of  things  requisite  to  call 
them  forth^  which,  if  it  do  not  exist,  they  shall  not  and  cannot  be 
called  forth.  And  secondly,  that  this  outward  condition  is  that 
state  we  call  Society,  with  it's  threefold  schools  and  its  triple  ma- 
gistrates, and  that  theze  are  absolutely  necessary  as  means  of  moral 
culture  to  the  moral  nature  of  man. 


64  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Thus,  then,  is  man  placed,  and  these  are  his  advantages ;  he 
has  a  nature  that  is  not  as  a  beast's  nature  is,  indifferent  to  good 
and  evil ;  it  is  not  the  nature  of  a  devil,  wholly  evil  in  itself,  but 
it  is  in  its  nature  and  essence  good — but  fallen. 

And  in  order  that  it  may  be  led  to  Good,  it  is  placed  in  Society 
subject  to  masters  and  teachers  ordained  of  God,  and  a  member  of 
institutions  that  by  Him  are  organized,  and  have  their  action  upon 
the  very  roots  of  man's  being.  And  these  teachers  teach  and  in- 
struct in  that  which  is  Good  ;  these  institutions  uphold  it  also. 

And  then  the  Law,  in  all  its  phases,  enforces  it.  The  Tradition 
brings  to  man,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  moral  elements  of 
Knowledge  from  the  remotest  shores  of  time,  the  most  distant 
realms  of  space ;  and  lastly.  External  Nature  repeats  and  re-echoes 
all  these  teachings,  from  the  smallest  herb  upon  the  mountain 
top ;  from  the  remotest  star ;  from  the  Btormy  sea ;  from  the  caliri 
streamlet  in  the  sunshine ;  from  the  burning  fires  of  the  volcano, 
and  the  snowy  peaks  of  the  sky-piercing  Himmaleh :  spring  and 
summer,  autumn  and  winter,  all  natural  objects  and  all  natural 
scenes,  when  once  the  sense  has  been  awakened,  feed  it  with  a  per- 
petual influence. 

Go,  ye  that  think  that  man  is  a  beast,  to  pick  up  his  food  as  he 
may,  to  eat  and  drink,  to  live  according  to  his  own  will,  and  then 
to  die ;  ye  that  imagine  that  this  world  is  a  large  pen  for  man 
the  beast  to  live  in,  a  self-acting  patent  pen,  that  supplies  enough 
of  food  and  drink — lull  yourselves  with  this  notion,  act  upon  it,  but 
still  you  shall  find  that  it  is  not  so ;  still  you  will  find  that  all 
things  witness  unto  God ;  and  through  them  all  he  witnesses  of 
Himself y  his  Willy  and  his  Law  unto  man. 


HUMAN  NATURE.  ^$ 


CHAPTER  V. 

Society  brings  to  all  men  the  knowledge  of  Good,  and  the  Rule  of  it.— 
Man's  nature  yearns  toward  it,  being  good ;  but  it  finds  itself  unable — it 
is  driven  then,  inwardly  for  aids — finds  within,  Conscience,  Reason,  the 
Heart,  the  Will,  powers  that  aid  us. — From  these  arise  four  philosophies, 
Socratic,  Platonic,  Epicurean,  Stoic. — These  powers  the  sources  of  moral 
progress. — Yet  moral  perfection  by  nature  unattainable. — Original  Sin. — 
Answer  to  the  question,  "  How  man  does  evil  although  his  nature  is  good  V 
— Diffierence  between  Mental  or  Physical  and  Moral  inability. — Original 
Sin  is  primarily  in  the  incapacity  of  the  moral  or  Governing  Powers. 

We  have  in  the  previous  chapters  examined  points  the  most  im- 
portant, and  drawn  conclusions  which  we  believe  are,  to  a  system 
of  Christian  Science,  fundamental.  The  reader  will  please  remem- 
ber them,  they  are  these — ^first,  that  the  nature  of  man  is  good ; 
secondly,  that  all  outward  circumstances,  which  wait  upon  man  in 
this  world,  are  ministers  to  him  of  moral  teaching. 

The  first  assertion  was,  that  "  man's  nature  is  good  of  itself  by 
nature."     This  we  asserted,  with  certain  limitations. 

But  at  once  the  question  comes  up,  "  Does  not  man  do  evil  ?" 
and  then,  "  How  is  this  consistent  with  the  fact  that  his  nature  is 
good?" 

This  is  a  question  of  deep  importance  we  will  say,  and  one 
which,  upon  this,  our  theme  of  Christian  Science,  has  a  most 
vital  bearing. 

In  answer  to  it,  we  say  then,  that  man  is  not  as  a  beast,  he  is 
not  as  a  devil,  he  is  a  man  still,  although  he  does  evil ;  we  call  him 
not  totally  depraved,  but  fallen ;  we  call  not  his  state  a  state  of 
total  depravity y  but  of  original  sin.  Let  our  reader  remark  this 
and  ponder  it  well ;  the  doctrine  we  teach  in  reference  to  man's 
state,  by  nature,  declares  him  ^^ fallen,*' — that  is  to  say,  as  far 
gone  as,  still  being  a  man,  he  can  go  from  "  original  righteous- 
ness,"— but  not  so  far  gone  as  to  be  a  beast,  or  a  fiend  ;  it  there- 
fore applies  not  to  him,  the  term  "  totally  depraved,"  but  the 
word  ^^ fallen." 

Now  the  very  word  "  fallen,"  this  itself  will  aid  us  to  compre- 
hend this  diflicult  question, — it  implies  the  having  lapsed  from  a 
higher  condition  ;  it  implies  inability  to  come  up  to  a  standard  ;  it 
implies  imperfection  in  natural  qualities.     A  nation  degenerated 


56  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

into  barbarism  would  be  a  "fallen"  nation;  a  hero  overthrown,  a 
"fallen"  hero  ;  a  man  of  character,  who  had  lost  that  character, 
a  "  fallen"  man  ;  but  still  they  cease  not  to  be  a  nation,  a  hero,  a 
man.  So  this  word  "  fallen,"  implies  that  Adam  originally  was 
created  perfect,  capable  of  reaching  to  and  satisfying  a  certain 
standard,  and  in  fact  reaching  to  and  satisfying  it ;  that  to  that 
standard  now,  no  man  individually,  nor  yet  the  race  collectively, 
can,  or  do  reach — ^that  standard  being  the  Law  of  God  and  his 
Will 

Now  if  we  look  at  the  third  chapter,*  we  find  the  subject  dis- 
cussed at  some  length ;  we  find  there  that  Adam's  perfection  con- 
sisted first  in  the  completeness  of  his  own  nature ;  secondly,  in  the 
Presence  of  God  with  Adam  as  a  natural  rule  of  life  and  complete 
law  of  action ;  we  shall  find,  too,  that  the  nature  of  the  fall  con- 
sists in  the  withdrawal  of  that  Gift  first  after  Adam  had  sinned, 
and  then  in  the  Insubordination  of  our  natural  faculties  thereon 
ensuing.  And  three  means  of  examining,  by  example,  the  nature 
of  man  unfallen,  we  find  in  Holy  Writ,  Adam  first,  secondly  Christ 
our  Lord,  and  thirdly  Man  after  the  resurrection. 

But  our  readers  may  say,  if  man  be  thus  imperfect,  incapable 
of  his  nature  of  reaching  a  certain  standard,  surely  it  is  enough 
for  him  if  he  live  up  to  his  imperfection,  seeing  that  he  is  imperfect. 

Certainly  if  man  were  alone  in  this  world — if  his  own  nature 
were  the  only  indication  that  he  had  of  a  supreme  moral  law,  then 
that  were  enough.  But  let  the  objector  look  to  our  last  chapter, 
there  he  shall  see  that,  even  supposing  the  man  to  be  afar  from 
the  Church  and  afar  from  Christianity,  still  he  is  not  left  to  him- 
self, to  his  own  nature,  or  to  his  own  standard;  but  a  higher 
standard  is  revealed  to  him  by  Society,  telling  him  of  Law,  and 
through  it  of  the  loftiness  of  duty  and  the  nearness  of  God ;  by 
Tradition  or  Opinion,  which,  through  the  voice  of  his  fellows, 
brings  him  religious  knowledge  and  religious  conviction  from  the 
remotest  ages  and  climes  ;  and  lastly,  by  Nature,  which  re-echoes 
and  confirms  all  these. 

Let  no  man  then  bring  forward  his  imperfection  as  an  excuse, 
for  it  is  none ;  if  only  he  will,  in  his  imperfection,  follow  after  that 
which  is  perfect,  he  will  he  led  unto  Christ. 

Yes !  such  is  the  merciful  benevolence  of  the  Omniscient  and 

*  Chapter  3,  page  29. 


HUMAN  NATURE.  57 

Omnipotent,  that,  if  from  one  born  amidst  the  barbarism  of  Africa, 
amid  the  Fetish-worship  and  hideous  cannibalism  and  horrible 
licentiousness  of  Central  Africa,  the  desire  should  arise  sincerely 
to  follow  the  Law  of  God  as  it  is  revealed  by  Society  even  there ; 
and  the  Tradition  of  religion,  faint  as  it  is  there  ;  and  the  teachings 
of  Nature  internal  and  external ;  then  circumstances  shall  form 
themselves  to  bless  the  design,  and  obstacles  yield,  and  ways  open 
through  deserts  that  seemed  trackless,  and  over  mountains  without 
passes,  and  the  man  shall,  by  ways  he  knew  not,  be  led  unto  Christ 
and  Christianity.* 

This  is  the  true  answer  to  them  who  assert  that  they  have  had 
no  opportunity.  For  the  God  of  the  whole  earth  is  not  unjust ; 
but  in  Man's  own  nature,  in  the  ordinances  and  arrangements  of 
the  outward  world  and  all  its  circumstances,  has  he  so  arrayed 
the  course  of  things,  that  "he  that  will  come,  may  come,"  and 
that  he  who  perishes,  does  so  of  his  own  accord,  willingly  and 
freely ;  and  not  upon  the  living  God  Omnipotent,  but  also  All- 
Merciful  and  All-Just,  but  upon  himself  is  the  blame  to  rest. 

And  he,  as  I  have  said,  that  shall  look  upon  the  exposition  of 
the  Moral  teaching  of  the  External  World  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters, shall  see  that  it  is  so. 

Now,  when  we  assert  this  fact  of  a  "fall"  from  an  original 
type ;  when  we  assert  that  it  is  in  two  ways  exemplified,  in  ina- 
bility to  come  up  to  the  standard,  and,  at  the  same  time,  in  an 
urgent  desire  and  feeling  towards  that  very  standard,  manifestly 
we  do  a  great  deal  towards  settling  the  moral  position  of  the  man 
and  the  race. 

For  first  must  there  be  in  man,  individually  and  as  a  race,  an 
inability  or  a  deficiency  that  is  without  example  in  all  other  ani- 
mals,— an  inability  to  fulfil  functions  which  we  feel  we  ought  to 
fulfil,  and,  at  the  same  time,  an  external  moral  stimulus  urging 
us  to  strive  and  struggle  in  that  direction. 

That  such  is  the  fact,  as  we  know  by  all  experience  with  regard 
to  man.  Because  he  is  not  evil  essentially,  or  "  totally  depraved" 
his  natural  feeling  is  towards  good.  He  aeelcs  nothing  hut  as 
good.^    The  Law  as  manifested  in  the  outward  world  and  the 


*  See  the  Sixth  Book,  Chapter  Second,  on  the  import  and  meaning  of  what 
we  call "  Circumstance." 
t  Omne  quod  petit,  petit  ut  bonum. — Scholastic  Maxim. 


6S  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Tradition  show  him  a  perfect  good  that  is  to  he  done.  And  his 
nature  yearns  towards  it,  and  he  feels  that  he  ought  to  do  it,  and 
that  originally  there  is  in  him  the  power  to  do  it.  And  yet,  every 
struggle  he  makes,  he  is  thrown  back  unable  and  incompetent. 
Is  he  not  then  a  wonder  and  a  terror  to  himself  ? 

But  it  is  manifested  in  more  ways  than  this.  The  man  cannot 
cease  the  moral  struggle,  for,  as  I  have  said,  the  Law  is  around 
him,  and  the  Tradition  urges  him  on,  and  External  Nature  works 
with  and  confirms  these  two.  And  this,  his  vain  strife,  then  forces 
him  to  seek  back  into  himself  and  his  inward  being,  to  see  whether 
in  that  Internal  Nature  there  are  moral  elements  by  which  he  may 
be  able  to  penetrate  and  conquer  those  others  of  his  lower  nature 
that  give  the  opportunity  to  evil. 

He  at  once  sees  that  there  are  such ;  the  Conscience  he  beholds,  or 
feeling  of  right  and  wrong.  Could  he  only  live  according  to  this 
exactly,  he  were  absolutely  and  entirely  right,  and  his  nature  urges 
him  to  struggle  toward  it.  The  Will,  the  power  of  Self-guidance 
and  Self-determination,  could  he  only  guide  himself  by  this ;  could 
he  only,  by  a  stern  efibrt,  shape  out  his  course,  and  with  firmly  set 
and  unrelenting  Will  pursue  it,  and  hew  through  all  obstacles,  all 
difficulties ;  if  there  be  no  moral  power  in  this,  at  least  half  the 
the  moral  weakness,  half  the  misery  of  life  is  lost,  and  the  stern 
thought  of  an  unyielding  and  self-determined  course  holds  out  to 
him,  if  not  happiness,  at  least  strength  and  consistency.  Or  the 
man  sees  the  value  of  Reason,  of  ruling  himself  in  all  cases 
according  to  the  dictates  of  Reason,  of  that  which  is  eternally  and 
immortally  right,  according  to  the  nature  and  being  of  the  whole 
world.  Or  else  he  makes  of  the  Afiections  his  standard,  seeing 
plainly  that  if  he  could  follow  nature  as  far  as  her  teachings  speak 
through  man's  Heart,  then  he  would  be  happy. 

Now  let  my  readers  look  at  man  as  he  is  by  nature,  and  they 
will  see  how  naturally  these  philosophies  arise,  and  what  they 
are.  In  the  first  class,  they  will  see  the  Socratic  philosophers, 
those  who  apprehended  the  power  of  Conscience  as  a  guide,  a  true 
philosophy,  yet  inadequate.  In  the  second,  the  Stoics,  with  their 
stern  subjection  of  self,  their  attempted  annihilation  of  the  pas- 
sions, their  ruling  of  the  whole  nature  by  the  force  of  an  iron  will 
— a  true  philosophy,  and  a  grand  and  noble  one,  yet  as  the  other, 
inadequate.  Again,  in  the  third  class,  they  find  the  Platonists  of 
old  with  their  Universal  Reason  and  obedience  to  it,  and  this  obcdi- 


HUMAN  NATURE.  59 

ence,  good  and  meritorious,  still  inadequate.  And  last  of  all, 
the  moral  philosophy  that  makes  the  Affections  all  in  all,  a  theory 
most  liable  to  be  corrupted,  but  still  in  men  who  have  advocated 
and  practiced  upon  it,  with  a  pure  mind,  the  loveliest  of  all. 

Now  with  reference  to  these  four  faculties,  is  it  not  plainly 
manifest  that  they  are  to  man  the  avenues  and  elements  of  moral 
progress  that  exist  in  his  nature, — these  and  none  else,  for  who  can 
seek  a  beginning  of  moral  progress,  or  an  element  of  moral  im- 
provement in  the  "appetites,"  the  "passions,"  the  "desires," 
while  he  finds  none  in  Conscience,  Will,  Reason,  the  Affections  ? 
And  yet  by  them  as  little  can  he  climb  to  moral  perfection,  or 
to  that  height  his  nature  requires,  as  by  the  baser  parts  of  his 
being. 

And  therefore  it  is,  that,  in  one  sense,  a  philosophy  of  life  is 
impossible ;  therefore  it  is  that  Christianity  has  so  abhorred  this 
blind  Philosophizing ;  for  the  very  enigma  of  our  nature  is  this,  that 
while  nature  indicates  these  as  moral  elements,  they,  hy  themselves, 
only  serve  to  blind  and  delude.  A  moral  philosophy  founded  upon 
the  moral  elements  of  our  nature  only,  or  upon  them  apart  from 
revelation,  is  a  delusion. 

For  the  moral  yearning  is  attended  with  moral  inability,  and 
the  feeling  towards  moral  perfection  is  partly  a  natural  reminis- 
cence of  a  past  state  in  the  history  of  our  race,  partly  the  yearn- 
ing after  a  post-resurrection  state  of  existence.  This  desire,  and 
longing,  and  feeling  is  the  germ  in  us  that  requires  fertilizing 
elements,  that  are  not  in  us  nor  of  us,  to  bring  it  to  perfection. 
And  only  this  doctrine  of  Revelation,  which  I  have  just  ex- 
pounded,* can  explain  the  enigma,  or  prevent  us  launching  forth 
into  hopes,  desires  and  speculations  in  search  of  moral  happiness 
and  moral  perfection,  that  end  only  in  delusion  and  disappointment. 

Now,  to  the  Christian,  baptized  in  Christ,  I  say  this,  as  a  result 
of  this  examination  :  "  Beware  of  philosophizing  ;  act  according 
to  Conscience,  to  Will,  to  Reason,  to  the  Affections,  but  beware 
philosophizing,  forming  theories  apart  from  religion,  and  notions ; 
for  the  moment  you  do  so,  you  run  many  risks  of  wandering  to 
and  fro  for  years,  of  dreaming  and  deluding  yourselves  and  others. 
For  this  advice,  you  can  see  abundant  reason  in  the  position  and 
nature  of  man,  as  above  specified.     The  vision  and  feeling  of  a 

*  The  doctrine  and  fact  of  Original  Sin. 


60  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

perfection  of  moral  nature  constantly  flashes  up  before  us ;  the 
conviction  that  the  elements  of  moral  progress  exist  in  man,  is 
instinctively  in  us.  These  are  in  us  for  purposes  and  uses  con- 
nected with  the  Grospel,  as  we  shall  see  ;*  let  us  not  turn  them  into 
delusion,  and  make  of  them  wandering  fires  to  lead  us  astray, 
when  they  are  intended  for  our  good  and  our  guidance." 

But  in  another  way,  still,  must  we  take  a  caution  upon  this 
point  in  the  leading  our  nature  gives  us  towards  the  idea  or  notion 
of  a  "perfect  society."  Man  has  a  feeling  by  nature  towards 
such  a  thing ;  he  has  the  assured  feeling  that  such  a  thing  there 
was  once,  that  such  a  thing  there  can  be  again,  and  from  the 
earliest  times  has  the  vision  been  before  him ;  it  is  before  him  by 
nature,  and  this  fact  of  Original  Sin  is  that  which  utterly  destroys 
the  possibility  of  it. 

For  I  will  ask,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  can  sin,  poverty,  disease, 
distress,  weakness,  and  irregularity  of  the  moral  and  mental 
powers  be  eradicated  from  this  world,  or  from  the  man  in  this 
world  ?  Then  if  it  be  so,  man  can  individually  reach  by  his  own 
power  "Moral  Perfection,"  or  there  can  be  a  "Perfect  Society." 
If  not,  it  cannot  he. 

To  the  Christian,  that  is  to  him  baptized  into  Christ's  Spirit  and 
Faith,  I  say  look  at  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall,  and  you  will  see  that 
what  I  have  said  is  true,  and  go  on  with  me  that  we  may  examine 
the  facts  and  truths  of  man's  position  in  the  world,  and  you  will 
see  the  moral  uses  of  these  things. 

To  him  who  is  unbaptized  in  the  Faith  and  Spirit  of  our  Re- 
deemer, and  has  no  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin,  I  say 
Try,  and  you  will  find  that  no  philosophizing  will  give  you  power 
to  do  that  which  you  feel  and  know  you  ought  to  do  ;  no  schemes 
or  plans  will  cast  away  from  Society  sin,  and  poverty,  and  disease, 
and  death.  And  furthermore  no  strife  of  yours,  nay,  of  unani- 
mous nations,  no  mass  of  heaven-high  capital  or  extent  of  domain, 
will  organize  Society  otherwise  than  it  has  been  organized. 

These  are  truths,  which  denying  the  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
you  may  think  false,  while  I  know  them  to  be  true.  Go  on,  then, 
my  friend;  strike  your  head  hard — harder  still — very  hard — in 
course  of  time  you  may  come  to  learn  that  rocks  do  not  yield,  and 
that  hardness  of  head  will  not  break  them  in  pieces — a  piece  of 

*  This  subject  is  afterwards  examined. 


HUMAN  NATURE.  61 

knowledge  that  is  very  valuable,  indeed,  though  perhaps  hardly 
worth  the  trouble  of  acquiring  it  by  experience. 

Now,  I  would  dwell  earnestly  upon  this.  I  would  request  of  all 
students  of  moral  philosophy  to  ponder  well  this  fact  and  its  bear- 
ings, that  the  Law,  taking  the  word  in  its  most  extended  sense, 
the  Opinion  or  Teaching  of  Society  and  External  Nature,  all  hold 
up  before  us  the  goal  and  object  of  a  moral  perfection  to  be 
struggled  after.  And  our  nature  responds  to  the  call.  Nay,  it 
indicates  to  ua  the  elements  in  our  being  that  serve  to  this  end ; 
and  these  things  all  perpetually  urge  us  onward — and  yet  of  our- 
selves we  cannot  reach  the  limit !  We  cannot  grasp  the  object ! 
We  cannot  attain  to  that  which  we  desire  to  attain  ! 

I  point  out  this  fact  as  one  of  the  most  important  there  is  in 
the  whole  nature  of  man,  and  one  which  at  once  destroys  the 
whole  of  many  moral  philosophies,  and  renders  them,  upon  the 
ground  of  nature,  impossible  and  useless.  One,  too,  which  ex- 
plains the  feeling  that  many  have  found  to  arise  in  themselves,  the 
feeling,  "what  avail  these  exact  rules,  these  high  speculations, 
these  admirable  precepts,  when  we  cannot  apply  them  so  as  to 
bring  out  the  results  the  author  desires,  and  we  so  much  appre- 
ciate?" This  limitation,  then,  we  would  desire  our  readers  all  to 
understand,  and  all  to  act  upon,  for  a  most  vital  part  it  is  of  a 
true  moral  philosophy. 

Men  may  ask,  wherefore  should  it  be  so  ?  And  from  their  in- 
ability to  comprehend  why  it  is  so,  they  may,  perhaps,  incline  to 
deny  it  to  be  a  fact.  We  shall  tell  them  why  it  is  so.  It  is  so, 
that  the  individual  having  tried  all  things,  and  had  recourse  to  all 
other  means,  may  finally  be  led  unto  Christ !  that  all  philosophies, 
all  plans  of  moral  progress  having  been  acted  upon,  and  found  in- 
adequate by  all  men,  they  all  may  be  led  to  the  Church  of  God, 
and  therein  find,  in  the  Gospel  of  His  Son,  ample  and  full  satisfac- 
tion,   y 

We  shall,  therefore,  treat  of  Moral  Science  under  this  limita- 
tion in  reference  to  Original  Sin,  as  seated  in  the  race  naturally, 
and  in  the  individual ;  and  for  the  course  of  moral  action  to  be 
pursued  by  man  under  it,  for  man's  perfection  and  man's  moral 
power,  we  shall  refer  to  the  latter  part  of  this  treatise. 

Here,  then,  we  are  able  to  answer  the  question,  "  How  is  it 
that  man  does  evil,  although  in  his  nature  he  is  good?"  How  is 
it  ?    Simply  it  is  this ;  that  the  very  fault  and  deficiency  of  his 


62  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

nature  is  in  the  natural  inability  to  do  that  which  is  in  accordance 
with  the  Will  and  Law  of  God ;  in  other  words,  that  which  is 
Good.  His  nature  is  good,  and  aspires  towards  it ;  the  Law  that 
speaks  to  him  is  good.  Tradition  teaches  him  of  Good ;  all  things 
call  forth  the  desire  and  the  will,  but  the  ability  is  wanting  by 
nature. 

Now,  look  at  this !  Ye  who  would  make  of  man  a  fiend  essen- 
tially evil,  say  that  we  have  the  desire,  the  wish,  the  feeling  to- 
wards good ;  say  that  all  things  lead  us  towards  it  naturally,  and 
that  there  is  in  man,  we  will  say  not  the  Physical  inability  or  the 
Mental,  but  the  Moral,  what  is  the  case  with  him  ?  This,  that  he 
does  evil. 

And  let  us  remember  that  voluntary  thoughts  are  action^  that 
speech  is  action,  that  deeds  are  action,  and  we  can  see  that  the 
nature  of  man  may  be  good,  at  the  same  time  that  his  deeds  are 
evil.  For  to  act,  and  yet  that  our  action  should  not  be  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law  of  God,  which  is  the  "rule  and  measure  of 
Good" ;  this  is  that  our  act  should  be  evil.  In  other  words,  a 
nature  may  be  in  itself  essentially  good,  and  yet  if  it  have  lost 
the  ability  to  obey  God's  Law,  its  actions  are  evil.  So  does  man 
ein,  although  his  nature  be  good.  Nay,  more,  he  sins  always,  in 
every  thought,  word  and  action,  wherein  he  has  not  Grace. 

We  would  add  another  remark,  to  uphold  and  confirm  that  which 
we  say  ;  and  this  is,  that  we  have  used  the  word  '•'■  inability  "  be- 
cause we  have  no  other  word  to  express  our  idea.  Now,  the  very 
deficiency  of  the  word  "inability"  is  this,  that  it  seems  to  imply 
an  excuse ;  that  it  seems  to  acquit,  to  cast  off  a  responsibility, 
and  thereby  to  make  man  guiltless,  for  men  will  say,  "If  he  is 
by  nature  unable,  why  is  he  condemned  ?" 

The  proper  answer  to  this  is,  "Physical  inability  excuses,  so 
does  Mental,  but  Moral,  never";  before  the  courts  of  God,  or 
those  of  man,  moral  inability  voids  not  guilt.  Say  that  a  duty  is 
bound  upon  a  man,  that  of  defending  his  country  from  an  invader, 
that  of  laboring  for  the  support  of  his  family,  that  of  serving  in 
any  oflSce  the  law  enjoins  upon  him ;  if  the  man  be  bed-ridden,  or 
sick,  or  deficient  in  physical  ability,  then  is  he  not  responsible,  he 
i^  excused.  Also,  if  he  is  mentally  unable,  let  us  say  insane,  or 
'idiotic  in  mind,  then  is  he  excused,  as  is  both  natural  and  just. 
But  moral  inability,  so  far  as  it  does  not  make  him  physically  or 
mentally  unable,  shall  still  leave  him  liable,  even  in  the  eyes  of 


HtTMAN  NATURE.  63 

man.  You  may  prove  before  a  jury,  that  the  man  was  feeble  in  Will, 
but  except  it  be  so  great  as  to  have  touched  his  Mental  or  Physical 
powers,  it  shall  be  no  excuse.  You  may  manifest  to  them  that 
naturally  he  "  had  very  little  Conscientious  feelings,  or  that  his 
Affections  were  of  a  nature  very  imperfect" ;  but  the  moral  in- 
ability shall  be  no  excuse,  except  it  have  amounted  to  physical  or 
mental  inability.  This  is  a  principle  in  all  law,  that  natural  moral 
inability,  belonging  to  the  race  or  to  the  individual,  is  no  excuse, 
voids  no  responsibility.  And  however  men  may  seek  to  evade  this 
conclusion  by  verbal  paradox,  still,  in  fact,  it  will  stand,  thereby 
showing  that  Moral  Inability  is  something  altogether  different 
from  Mental  or  Physical  Inability,  and  that  the  difference  is,  that 
it  does  not  void  responsibility  or  annul  guilt. 

Now  in  reference  to  this  subject  of  "Moral  Inability,"  or  that 
consequence  of  our  natural  state  of  Original  Sin,  by  reason  of 
which  we  cannot  of  ourselves  obey  the  Law  of  God,  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  quote  from  a  book,  written  by  myself,  a  passage,  which 
I  hope  will  give  some  degree  of  explanation.*  "  What  then  is  bap- 
tism in  their  case,  (that  of  infants,)  considered  as  a  rite  for  the 
remission  of  sins  ?  This  may  be  seen  from  the  nature  of  sin. 
What  then  is  sin  ?  This,  neither  more  nor  less,  *  the  transgression 
of  the  Law ;'  this  is  actual  sin.  And  how  does  this  come  ?  how 
comes  it,  that  since  'the  law  is  holy,  and  just,  and  true,'  since 
*  virtue,'  or  conduct,  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  God,  '  is  the  law 
of  man's  nature, 'f  that  men  transgress  the  law,  for  that  law  is 
evidently  in  accordance  with  man's  best  interests? 

"  Certainly  it  is  not  by  the  bondage  of  an  iron  fate  predestinating 
us  to  be  sinful ;  as  certainly  it  is  not  the  force  of  external  circum- 
stances driving  us  onward  and  impelling  us  to  sin,  for  every  man 
knows,  by  the  fact  that  he  is  a  man,  that  man  is  the  lord  of  cir- 
cumstances." 

"  How  then  does  it  come  ?  By  this,  that  there  is  a  moral  inability 
to  keep  God's  Jja,vf  perfectly,  an  inability  born  with  us,  and  which  we 
clearly  see  not  to  have  belonged  to  man's  nature  originally,  but  to 
have  been  the  result  of  a  deterioration,  which  is  called  the  Fall  ?" 

"  This  inability  is  in  the  infant;  it  developes  itself  in  him  just 
BO  soon  as  reason  and  responsibility  begin  to  develope  themselves. 
And  the  great  end  of  remission,  of  forgiveness,  of  reconciliation,  is 

*  "  Mercy  to  Babes,"  page  135.  t  Bishop  Butler. 


64  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

the  putting  an  end  to  this  inability,  not  in  itself,  but  in  actual 
transgression,  and  in  its  own  guiltiness.  The  fact  of  the  inability, 
and  of  its  origin,  every  one  can  see  from  his  own  nature." 

"  The  nature  of  Original  Sin,  the  cause  of  this  inability,  we  do 
not  clearly  know  in  this  world,  even  our  deepest  imagininigs  cannot 
penetrate  it.  The  very  consideration  of  it  is  involved  in  the 
deepest  mystery.  It  would  seem  that  there  is  a  hideousness  and 
horror  about  it,  more  fearful  than  we  can  imagine,  when  we  think 
that  for  its  remission  and  pardon,  the  Eternal  Word  must  take 
flesh,  and  be  born,  suffer,  die,  and  be  buried,  that  it  should  be 
remitted." 

"  It  would  seem,  too,  that  if  we  could  only  comprehend  it,  that 
sin  is  ultimately  an  actual  and  real  death,  of  which  the  death  of 
this  world  is  only  the  shadow.  It  would  seem  also  to  be  of  the 
nature  of  an  infection,  reaching  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  from  father  to  son,  extending  as  a  disease,  loathsome  of  itself 
in  the  eyes  of  God  and  Man.  It  would  seem  also  as  if  it  tainted 
the  nature  of  all  men  as  unquestionably  the  infected  nature  of 
diseased  animals,  although  undeveloped,  still  is  in  their  offspring.  It 
would  appear  also  that  there  is  some  impenetrable  and  mysterious 
connection,  as  it  were,  between  the  souls  of  all  men, — ^between  our 
souls  and  the  souls  of  all  our  progenitors,  and  consequently  with 
the  souls  of  them  in  whom  the  deterioration  took  place." 

"  And  lastly,  it  is  plainly  manifest  from  the  Scripture,  that  in 
this  world  ....  we  are  all  born  subject  to  this  evil  taint.  We 
were  by  nature,  'children  of  wrath.'*  'As  by  one  man  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon 
all,  for  that  all  have  sinned. 'f  So  from  all  these  considerations, 
would  it  seem  that  this  natural  inability  requires  remission.  The 
sinfulness  that  is  in  us  by  birth  must  be  pardoned.  This  is  called 
Original  Sin." 

"  I  need  not  say  that  the  explanation  of  it  is  difficult  from  the 
first, — in  that  we,  as  men  born  in  sin,  cannot  understand  what 
sin  is  clearly  in  this  life,  or  how  it  looks  in  the  eye  of  a  most  Holy 
God.  Only  this  I  will  say,  that  any  other  opinion  than  this  of 
Original  Sin,  will  and  must  force  us  into  difficulties  and  contradic- 
tions, overthrowing  the  whole  plan  of  salvation." 

So  far  I  have  quoted,  that  I  may  the  more  clearly  explain  this 

*  Eph.  ii.  3.  t  Rom-  v- 12. 


HUMAN  NATURE.  65 

point.  Now,  I  ask  candidly,  having,  as  we  must  have,  by  the 
explanation  before  given,  a  feeling  of  Good  and  a  standard  of 
Good,  do  we  not  know  from  our  own  consciousness  that  our  fault 
and  the  fault  of  our  nature  is  the  inability  to  reach  it  ?  Can  we 
not  also  refer  that  inability  to  the  very  part  and  portion  of  our 
nature  wherein  it  rests,  the  Governing  or  Moral  faculties  of  the 
Conscience,  the  Will,  the  Keason,  the  Affections. 

Certainly,  therein  we  feel  the  inability  to  exist.  For  every 
man  knows  that  in  each  act,  the  will,  the  conscience,  the  reason, 
the  affections  should  come  in  perfectly  as  the  guides  and  rules  of 
all  physical  and  mental  action,  so  that  no  act  should  be  done  save 
under  their  control  and  by  their  guidance,  just  as  the  helm  and 
compass  should  influence  each  movement  of  the  vessel.  Every  one 
knows  also,  that  in  men's  actions  naturally  these  even  now  come  in, 
more  or  less,  in  an  enfeebled  and  weak  way ;  and  feels  that  if  they 
could  influence  him  as  they  ought  to  influence  him,  and  as  they 
are  intended  by  God  to  do,  then  would  his  life  be  good,  under  the 
governance  of  the  Law  of  God  and  man.  Every  man  therefore 
recognizes  this  weakness  and  inability  in  our  present  moral  posi- 
tion, as  an  element  of  the  being  of  an  imperfect  and  fallen  nature. 
Every  man  also  recognizes  and  clearly  understands  the  seat  of  this 
inability  to  be  where*  I  have  placed  it. 

This  remark  being  made,  I  shall  go  on  to  examine  the  moral 
powers  of  man  as  they  actually  exist.  That  is  the  Governing 
powers  of  Conscience,  Will,  Reason,  the  Affections,  in  their  pre- 
sent state  of  weakness  and  feebleness,  doing  their  work  imper- 
fectly ;  and  as  I  go  along  drawing  forth  precepts  concerning  the 
strengthening  of  them,  and  supplying  them  with  their  utmost  pos- 
sible ability. 

*  I  have,  as  it  may  be  seen,  placed  the  effect  of  Original  Sin  primarily  in 
the  weakness  of  the  Governing  or  Spiritual  Powers  in  the  race  and  the  indi- 
vidual. And  thereby  the  Supernatural  Gift  of  the  Presence  and  the  Imme- 
diate Grace  being  withdrawn,  these  powers,  which,  by  means  of  that  rule, 
had  the  ofiBce  and  the  ability  to  govern  the  man,  have  lost,  in  a  degree  which 
we  can  hardly  estimate,  that  power.  Thereby  the  other  powers  that  ought 
to  be  subordinate,  are  disordered  and  out  of  place.  The  injury  then  of  Original 
Sin  is  primarily  and  causally  upon  men's  Spiritual  powers,— but  in  effect 
upon  the  whole  nature,  and  all  the  powers  of  body,  soul  and  spirit.  This  dis- 
tinction, a  very  important  one,  I  hope  my  readers  will  apprehend. 

9 


66  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 


CHAPTER  yi. 

There  are  in  human  nature,  Governing  Powers  and  Powers  Subordinate. — No 
powers  in  human  nature  essentially  evil. — Anger  analyzed  as  a  proof  of 
this  assertion. — Evil  action  comes  from  the  weakness  of  the  Governing 
Powers,  not  the  strength  of  Passions. — Laws  of  the  Governing  Powers. — 
1st,  Governing  Powers  should  govern — Subordinate  Powers  only  subordi- 
nately  act. — Dangers  from  breach  of  this  first  law. — 2d,  They  should  act 
always,  others  onlyjintermittingly. — 3d,  They  govern  according  to  a  Law. 
— ^This  is  the  Law  of  God,  which  is  also  the  Law  of  the  harmony  of  man's 
nature. — The  relation  of  moral  to  mental  power. 

"Wfi  bave  treated,  in  the  previous  Chapter,  of  the  inability  or 
weakness  of  the  Governing  or  moral  powers  in  man,  and  that  we 
believe,  in  a  manner  so  plain  and  clear,  that  no  one  who  has 
thought  upon  his  own  being  gravely  and  searchingly,  can  mistake 
the  truth  we  have  brought  into  view,  and  the  moral  principles 
capable  of  being  educed  from  it.  We  have  shown  that  man  has 
in  his  nature.  Governing  or  moral  powers,  the  peculiar  quality  of 
which  is,  that  their  office  is  to  rule  the  rest  of  his  nature  according 
to  the  Law  of  God. 

Now  the  very  idea  of  Governing  powers  supposes  powers  Subor- 
dinate, whose  natural  state  is  subjection — the  being  ruled  and  the 
being  guided ;  so  that  thereby  we  shall  have  two  classes  esta- 
blished at  once,  the  one  of  powers  governing^  whose  function  is  to 
govern, — the  other,  of  powers  Subordinate^  whose  functions  is  to 
be  governed.  This  is  the  first  natural  division  of  the  powers  of 
man's  nature. 

Now  upon  the  mere  statement  of  the  distinction,  there  will  arise 
two  most  important  questions  and  objections,  which  must  be  dis- 
posed of  before  any  further  progress  can  be  made.  It  may  be 
said,  first,  "  Admitting  the  division, — instead  of  powers  governing 
and  powers  subordinate,  should  it  not  be  powers  good  and  powers 
evil?  Are  there  not  in  our  nature,  powers  and  faculties  and  prin- 
ciples, that  of  their  nature  and  by  themselves  are  naturally  evil, 
which  the  Governing  powers,  the  Conscience,  Will,  Reason,  and 
Aflfections  do  check  and  repress  ?  So  that  the  Governing  powers 
are  good  in  their  nature, — the  subordinate  powers  evil  in  their 
nature." 


HUMAN  NATURE.  67 

This  manifestly  is  a  most  important  consideration,  one  that  is 
to  be  gone  into  fully,  and  fully  resolved  upon,  before  we  can  make 
any  progress.  And  so  much  in  its  favor  we  may  say,  that  in  all 
cases  of  evil  action,  almost  always  we  can  see  that  it  arises  from 
these  Subordinate  faculties,  desires,  feelings,  &c.  Although,  of 
course,  this  may  arise  in  one  of  two  ways :  if  they  are  evil  in  * 
their  nature  essentially,  the  function  of  the  other  is  to  sup- 
press, annihilate,  destroy  them.  If  they  are  in  themselves  good, 
and  their  function  is  to  be  subordinate,  of  course,  then,  not  being 
subordinate,  will  be  to  be  in  that  case,  and  that  only — evil.  And 
therefore  upon  this  last  supposition,  that  evil  in  action  may  arise 
from  them,  does  not  prove  them  evil  in  nature. 

Now,  this  is  our  resolution.  Man  has  faculties  that  are  good  in 
themselves — he  has  none  that  are  evil  in  themselves — he  has  facul- 
ties that  are  benevolent  naturally,  none  that  are  malevolent  or 
malignant  naturally. 

For  this  resolution  we  shall  appeal  to  the  consciousness  of  each 
and  every  man.  All  men  know  wherein  they  do  evil.  Each  man, 
therefore,  is  aware  by  what  desire,  or  feeling,  or  emotion  of  his 
nature  he  is  betrayed  to  the  evil  that  he  does.  Now,  let  him  take 
that  same  desire,  and  by  examining  it  carefully,  he  shall  find  that 
there  are  cases  wherein  the  exercise  of  that  desire  of  his  nature  is 
not  only  not  evil,  but  is  more  than  that,  is  good.  Nay,  further- 
more, he  shall  find  the  feeling  in  all  cases  is  good,  provided  only 
that  it  be  under  the  guidance  of  Reason,  and  Conscience,  and 
Will,  and  the  Afiiections,  guided  by  them  according  to  the  mea- 
sure* they  prescribe. 

We  shall  take  an  instance.  One  of  the  most  violent  passions, 
and  of  those  that  give  rise  to  the  greatest  amount  of  evil,  is 
Anger — is  not  that  evil  in  itself,  and  its  nature — naturally  evil  ? 
Certainly  not.  Its  evil  is,  that  it  is  not  ruled.  When  it  is  under 
the  Governing  Powers,  then  it  is  good,  and  always  good.  And  so 
the  direction  of  the  Scripture  with  reference  to  it  is,  "  Be  ye  angry 
and  sin  not" — a  permission,  nay,  almost  an  injunction  to  be  angry, 
provided  it  be  so  ruled  as  not  to  be  against  the  Law  of  God. 
Again,  "  Let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  wrath" — it  is  not  to 
be  permanent  so  as  to  take  the  place  of  the  Affections,  which  are 
to  be  permanent,  or  to  become  a  guiding  quality  instead  of  a  Sub- 

*  Their  measure  and  rule  of  course  is  the  Law  of  GK)d. 


68  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

ordinate  and  momentary  one.  So  far  the  reason  of  any  and  every 
thoughtful  individual  can  see  that  the  distinctions  of  the  Scripture 
with  reference  to  Anger  agree  with  the  principle  laid  down,  that 
no  subordinate  faculty  is  in  itself  evil,  but  that  its  evil  is  in  its 
being  not  ruled  by  those  powers  whose  function  is  to  rule,  for  the 
direction  of  the  Apostle  in  reference  to  anger  amounts  to  this : 
"  Let  the  Will,  the  Reason,  the  Conscience,  the  Affections  govern 
your  natural  emotion  of  anger,  according  to  the  Law  of  God,  and 
then  its  actions  shall  be  good  and  not  evil — otherwise  evil." 

But  further  than  this  we  can  go,  and  evince  the  same  thing  in  a 
positive  manner  by  an  analysis  of  Anger  itself,  in  its  results  and 
its  action.  We  can  show  that  so  far  from  being  an  aggressive 
emotion,  that  it  is  strictly  defensive.  That  it  has  prominent  in  it 
two  feelings,  both  of  them  good.  The  first,  the  sense  of  injustice 
done  to  ourselves ;  the  second,  the  desire  of  putting  an  end  to  it. 
And  whether  in  momentary  Anger  or  in  Resentment,  this  can  be 
shown  to  be  the  case  with  it  always. 

Nay,  more,  further  research  will  manifest  to  us  that  to  have 
been  born  with  the  natural  faculty  of  Anger  predominant,  this  is 
so  far  from  being  a  disadvantage,  that  it  is  a  positive  and  decided 
advantage,  if  it  be  only  governed  and  ruled,  giving  energy, 
strength,  power,  and  endurance,  which  can  hardly  come  from  any- 
thing else. 

By  this  analysis  of  that  one  of  the  Subordinate  emotions  which 
most  usually  produces  evil,  I  believe  I  have  led  the  student  in 
Ethics  upon  the  way  to  see  that  my  assertion  is  correct, — That  the 
Subordinate  faculties  are  not  evil  in  themselves,  but  actually  good, 
and  that  their  evil  is  in  not  being  in  subjection  to  the  governing 
faculties.  I  would  refer  to  the  admirable  dissertations  of  Bishop 
Butler,  published  under  the  name  of  Sermons,  for  examples  at 
full  length  of  this  kind  of  Ethical  Analysis,  and  would  particular- 
ize it  as  one  of  the  books  most  necessary  to  be  read. 

And  furthermore,  I  would  to  the  student  point  this  out  as  a 
most  important  means  of  improving  himself  in  Ethical  Knowledge, 
that  he  as  an  exercise  should  take  Emotions,  or  Desires,  or  Feel- 
ings, examine  and  analyze  them  in  their  action,  and  determine 
wherein  and  under  what  conditions  their  action  shall  be  good,  and 
develope  the  rules  prescribed  for  it  by  the  Governing  Faculties. 
I  know  not  any  habit  of  mind  which  more  than  this  lays  open  our 
own  nature  to  us  and  the  system  of  God's  dealings.     I  know  not 


HUMAN  NATURE.  09 

any  that  more  tends  to  make  us  charitable  and  considerate  to- 
wards the  feelings  of  our  friends  and  companions,  and  courageous 
in  reference  to  the  events  of  life. 

For  the  ordinary  tone  of  that  which  many  call  Moral  Philo- 
sophyj  looks  upon  faults  of  character  and  temper  as  absolute  and 
evil  in  themselves.  And,  therefore,  instead  of  seeking  down  to 
the  good  that  lies  beneath,  and  trying  to  guide  it  and  call  it  forth, 
and  being,  therefore,  considerate,  it  is  censorious,  and  gives  the 
individual  who  has  the  fault  as  much  credit  for  natural  and  in- 
eradicable evil,  as  it  does  the  rattlesnake  or  the  viper  for  venom, 
injuring  thereby  both  society  and  the  man. 

Secondly.  Persons  born  with  any  of  these  "  subordinate"  quali- 
ties unusually  strong,  in  the  earlier  part  of  their  life  are  deluded 
into  the  feeling  that  these,  heing  evil  in  themselves^  as  they  think, 
are  to  be  utterly  rooted  out ;  and  they  therefore  set  themselves 
energetically  to  this  vain  task,  and  often  with  the  most  intense 
agony.  Which,  when  in  middle  age,  they  find  impossible  to  be 
done,  they  become  rebels  in  a  measure,  or  outlaws  to  any  belief 
in  Moral  Government,  and  give  themselves  up  to  live  by  chance, 
as  may  be  most  pleasant  to  them. 

For  these  reasons,  and  to  avoid  these  very  plain  evils  of  the 
time,  I  do  conceive  that  the  Ethical  exercise  I  have  spoken  of 
will  be  very  advantageous. 

I  might  go  on  with  a  more  extended  analysis,  and  by  means  of 
it  manifest,  in  the  plainest  way,  the  assertion  I  have  made,  that 
none  of  the  Subordinate  Faculties  are  in  their  nature  evil,  nor 
evil  in  their  action  when  they  are  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Governing  Faculties ;  but  I  believe  that  with  the  reference  I  have 
given  to  Bishop  Butler,  and  the  inducement  I  have  held  out  to 
Ethical  Analysis,  what  I  have  said  upon  the  subject  is  enough. 

Having  thus  shown  that  none  of  the  "  subordinate"  qualities 
are  in  themselves  evil,  and  that  in  their  action  they  are  good  when 
guided  by  the  "governing"  faculties,  the  second  of  these  ques- 
tions comes  up.  Admitting  that  there  are  "  governing"  powers 
and  "  subordinate"  powers,  you  have  assented  that  evil  comes 
from  a  weakness  in  the  "governing"  powers  in  the  race  and  in 
the  individual.  Now  "  the  same  consequences  will  come  from  an 
extraordinary  strength  in  the  *  subordinate'  powers  naturally  ex- 
isting." 

In  answer  to  this,  I  say  that  the  relation  is  that  of  subordina- 


70  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

tion ;  and  that  by  the  very  nature  of  the  Human  Being,  it  cannot 
be  changed  from  that  relation  to  one  of  strife  and  contest  between 
two  antagonist  powers.  The  "  governing"  powers  are  ^o  govern  / 
this  is  their  function,  and  they  always  will  govern,  how  weak 
soever  they  be,  if  only  they  go  according  to  their  Law.  And  the 
"  subordinate"  powers  will  always  be  subordinate  to  them,  how 
strong  soever  they  may  be,  for  the  one  is  "  governing,"  the  other 
"subordinate."  It  is  the  weakness,  then,  of  the  one,  and  not  the 
strength  of  the  other,  that  originates  evil.  And  the  strength  of 
the  "governing"  powers  is  according  to  their  law.* 

From  this  it  may  be  plainly  seen  that  there  is  no  man,  how 
weak  soever  his  Governing  powers  are,  and  how  strong  his  Subor- 
dinate ones,  that  cannot,  if  he  will,  rule  and  check  the  last,  a 
truth  which  the  experience  of  each  man  will  confirm. 

It  remains,  therefore,  in  order  to  the  finishing  of  this  chapter, 
to  examine  the  differences  that  exist  between  the  "  governing" 
faculties  and  those  that  are  "  subordinate."  And  the  first  and  most 
manifest  difference  is  this,  that  the  "governing"  faculties  are 
always  to  govern  in  him  whose  life  i»  moral,  and  according  to  the 
truth  of  his  nature.  Reason,  the  Conscience,  the  Affections,  the 
guiding  influence  of  a  self-determined  Will,  these  are  to  be  seen 
and  felt  in  each  and  all  his  actions  and  words.  These  are  always 
to  come  in,  and  the  "subordinate"  faculties  not  always,  but  only 
according  to  the  measure  prescribed  by  these. 

In  this  fact  will  be  seen  the  solution  of  some  difficult  cases, 
even  of  some  that  may  have  carried  men  away  with  a  false  glare. 
For  if  we  take  one  of  the  higher  "subordinate"  faculties,  that  of 
Benevolence,  for  instance,  or  that  of  Maternal  Affection,  and  ask, 
"  May  so  exalted  a  faculty  as  this  rule  and  become  a  '  governing' 
faculty  ?"  and  the  answer  is,  "  No";  from  the  simple  fact  that  it 
is  "subordinate." 

Nay,  not  even  the  natural  feeling  of  Theopathy,  or  love  Godward, 
not  even  this  is  to  be  a  ruling  faculty ;  but  it  is  to  be  enlightened 
and  proportionated  in  its  action  by  Reason,  to  be  measured  as  to 
its  ends  by  Conscience,  to  be  adapted  to  the  good  of  society,  soft- 
ened and  humanized  by  the  Affections,  and  guided  in  a  fixed  and 
determined  line  of  direction  by  a  fore-thoughted  and  fore-planning 
WiU. 

*  This  is  discussed  in  the  latter  part  of"  this  chapter. 


HUMAN    NATURE.  Tf 

And  he  that  gives  himself  up  to  any  Subordinate  faculty,  even 
of  the  highest  and  purest,  and  permits  this  to  engross  his  mind  so 
as  to  dethrone  the  "  governing"  powers  from  their  seat,  and  puts 
it  in  their  stead,  this  man  is  wholly  wrong.  This  man  prepares 
for  himself  insanity,  if  it  be  made  to  preponderate  over  the  Will 
or  Reason ;  destruction  of  natural  honesty  and  piety,  if  his  desire 
preponderate  over  his  Conscience;  and  fierce  fanaticism  that  de- 
spises all  relations  to  society,  if  it  overpower  the  Aflfections. 

For  as  we  have  said,  the  "  governing"  faculties  ought  to  govern 
always.  And  when  they  do  not  govern,  when  the  man  knowingly 
and  willingly  exalts  anything  else  in  their  stead,  then  he  prepares 
the  way  of  his  own  accord  for  moral  disease;  we  use  not  the  words 
merely  for  moral  transgression,  but  for  such  a  state  of  his  moral 
constitution  as  must  lead  to  moral  transgression  ultimately,  or  else 
be  saved  from  it  only  by  insanity  or  mental  incapacity. 

Another  inference  we  would  draw  from  this,  which  is  more  im- 
portant still  than  the  last.  It  is  seen  that  the  business  of  the 
governing  faculties  is  to  govern  always.  Of  course  their  weakness 
is  in  their  non-governance,  first,  which  we  have  spoken  of  in  the 
last  paragraph ;  and  secondly,  in  their  intermission. 

For  hereby  they  become  as  the  "  subordinate"  faculties,  which 
are  of  their  own  nature,  only  intermittent,  acting  at  intervals. 
Upon  this  I  would  remark,  first,  that  the  greatest  amount  of  un- 
happiness  that  is  caused  to  any  individual,  is  caused  by  the  inter- 
mission of  the  "  governing"  powers,  by  the  person  one  time  ruling, 
checking,  constraining  the  "subordinate"  faculties  by  them,  and 
again  permitting  these  faculties  to  take  their  place  and  rule.  Upon 
this  all  weakness  and  inconsistency  of  course  depends.  And  he 
that  shall  look  at  the  two  supposable  although  never  entirely  pos- 
sible cases  of  a  man,  on  the  one  side  ruled  by  the  superior  facul- 
ties entirely,  and  one  on  the  other  in  whom  one  or  more  of  the 
"  subordinate"  faculties,  even  in  a  faulty  shape,  have  taken  their 
place  entirely,  such  as  ambition  or  avarice,  he  shall  see  that  these 
both  admit  of  something  of  happiness,  which  the  other  is  not 
capable  of.  And  he  shall  see  that  inconsistency  of  thought  and 
word,  of  resolution  and  action,  of  moral  knowledge  and  conduct, 
and  worse  than  all,  the  feeling  of  self-contempt  thence  ensuing, 
this  state,  a  state  in  which  the  "governing"  faculties  now  rule, 
and  now  do  not,  is  one  of  the  most  miserable  in  the  world. 

The  second  moral  inference  which  we  had  intended  to  make  is 


V2  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

tliis,  that  the  "  governing"  po"wers  by  their  nature  being  intended 
to  be  always  acting,  and  therefore,  as  we  have  shoivn  in  this  chap- 
ter being  capable  of  subduing  passions,  affections,  desires,  emo- 
tions of  any  degree  of  strength  "whatsoever,  and  proportionating 
them  to  their  law ;  it  follows  that  their  strength  is  in  their  con- 
tinuity of  action,  their  weakness  in  their  intermission.  When  they 
act  always,  that  is,  when  their  influence  is  exerted  at  every  mo- 
ment of  life  as  a  principle  of  supremacy,  by  the  individual  man, 
then  will  they  be  able  to  rule  any  one  of  the  "subordinate"  facul- 
ties at  any  time. 

But  when  the  man  lives  as  an  animal,  indifferent  to  their  action, 
until  it  is  necessary,  in  opposition  to  some  of  the  "subordinate'* 
faculties ;  then  these  powers,  merely  called  up  for  the  occasion, 
shall  be  invariably  vanquished.  For  "governing"  faculties  that 
do  not  govern  always,  have  no  strength  at  any  particular  crisis. 
The  man  who,  in  all  things  and  at  all  times,  rules  himself  by  the 
ruling  powers  of  his  nature,  that  man  shall  be  able  in  the  one  thing 
wherein  he  has  the  most  danger  to  subdue  that  danger.  But  he 
who  uses  Reason,  and  Will,  and  the  Affections,  and  the  Conscience 
only  against  that  one  emotion  or  passion,  and  only  at  the  time  that 
it  rebels,  that  man  shall  invariably  be  overcome.  Let  the  men  that 
are  able  to  rule  themselves  examine,  and  the  men  who  are  not  able, 
and  both  classes  shall  find  this  account  to  be  true.  Hence  shall 
they  deduce  one  of  the  best  practical  rules,  or  rather  principles  of 
life  and  action. 

Another  thing  we  shall  note  in  reference  to  these  two  classes. 
The  "governing"  faculties,  in  order  to  be  perfect  in  their  action, 
must,  in  addition  to  the  two  qualifications  that  we  have  laid  down, 
have  also  another — ^that  of  governing  according  to  a  law,  and  not 
according  to  themselves.  The  Will  that  places  in  itself  the  reason 
of  its  guidance ;  the  Reason  that  puts  in  reason,  or  its  reasoning 
the  cause  of  acting ;  the  Conscience  that  makes  of  itself  the  ulti- 
mate rule,  or  the  Affections  that  decide  wholly  by  themselves, — 
these  are,  or  become  evil. 

And  he  that  has  examined  the  greatest  evils  inflicted  by  man 
upon  his  fellows,  he  will  find  them  to  have  taken  place  from  those 
who  had  the  power  of  governing  themselves,  and  that  perpetually, 
but  did  so,  not  by  a  law,  but  by  themselves, — a  case  perhaps  per- 
mitted only  for  particular  purposes  by  the  Almighty.  And  he 
that  will  look  at  the  misery  such  men  are  capable  of  inflicting,  per- 


HUMAN  NATURE.  1Z 

haps  may  see  good  reasons  why  so  many  are  pennitted  to  be  natu- 
rally deficient  in  their  powers. 

We  shall  finish  this  Chapter  by  making  two  observations.  The 
first  is,  that  our  division  of  the  faculties  into  "governing"  and 
"subordinate,"  is  a  natui-al  one,  supported  by  nature  itself.  She 
tells  us  that  unity  of  action  is,  in  some  measure,  the  perfection  of 
man's  nature, — that  all  feelings,  powers,  faculties,  desires,  should 
work  on  together  in  moral  harmony, — that  there  should  be  no  jar- 
ring, no  discordance ;  but,  as  the  Platonists  say,  there  should  be 
in  all  perfect  natures,  "unity  in  multiplicity." 

Now,  that  very  "oneness  in  multiplicity,"  man,  as  a  limited 
being,  existing  under  the  conditions  of  Space  and  Time,  manifestly 
would  have,  but  for  the  weakness  of  the  "governing  powers,"  which 
I  have  spoken  of,  and  it  would  consist  in  the  constant  subordina- 
tion of  all  the  other  powers  to  them,  or  rather  through  them,  to 
the  Law  of  God,  who  is  the  Supreme  Good  and  the  Supreme  Law. 

And  if  man  had  that  "oneness,"  he  would  be  entirely  good  ac- 
cording to  his  nature,  as  a  limited  being,  without  any  change  in 
the  nature  of  his  present  faculties,  more  than  that  of  complete  and 
entire  subordination — that  change  bringing  them  in  their  action, 
and  in  themselves  to  the  most  complete  perfection  of  which  they 
are  capable. 

The  question  comes  up  here  most  appropriately  of  the  influence 
of  the  moral  powers  and  their  cultivation  upon  the  intellectual,  or, 
as  they  are  commonly  called,  the  mental  faculties.  Now  putting 
aside  altogether  the  fact  that  Reason  is  one  of  the  "governing" 
powers,  inasmuch  as  it  will  be  found,  upon  referring  to  the  book 
that  treats  of  it,  to  be  quite  a  different  thing  from  reasoning, — Put- 
ting this  aside,  I  think  that  the  view  we  have  given  of  "  govern- 
ing" and  "subordinate"  faculties,  will  give  us,  upon  this  point, 
principles  of  the  highest  importance. 

It  is  by  that  view  plain  that  in  all  right  action  of  our  nature, 
there  is  first  the  subordinate  faculty  or  faculties  working  towards 
their  ends.  And  secondly,  that  along  with  that  force,  there 
always  exists  another,  that  is  the  power  of  all  the  "governing" 
faculties,  as  ruling  and  guiding.  In  all  mental  operations,  then, 
there  will  be  normally  a  two-fold  action — that  of  the  mental 
faculty,  and  that  of  the  moral  faculty ;  and  in  all  cases  of  perfect 
and  appropriate  action,  these  both  will  come  in. 

It  follows  from  this,  that  there  ought  to  be  two  ways  of  increas- 

10 


74  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

ing  the  intellectual  powers ;  the  first  by  developing  the  mental 
power  itself;  the  second,  by  developing  and  bringing  to  perfection 
the  moral  powers,  so  as  to  act  strongly  upon  the  mental  power, 
which  we  desire  to  cultivate ;  and  that  this  last  ought  to  effect 
the  object  as  fully  as  the  first. 

For  the  relation  of  these  two  in  action  will  resemble  that  of  a 
piece  of  machinery,  in  which  there  is  the  immediate  tool  that  effects 
the  given  work,  which  is  united  by  a  certain  attachment  to  a  driving 
power;  or  it  will  resemble  the  axe  fitted  to  hew,  the  saw  to  cut, 
the  augur  to  bore,  guided  and  driven  by  the  arm  of  the  workman. 
The  state  then  of  the  instrument  in  itself,  as  to  adaptedness  to  its 
purpose,  in  metal,  weight,  sharpness,  and  so  forth,  is  one  requi- 
site to  action ;  that  of  the  power  that  drives  it,  whether  in  machi- 
nery or  muscular  strength,  is  a  second. 

And  much  about  the  same  relation  do  I  conceive  the  intellectual 
powers  bear  dynamically  to  the  moral  faculty.  I  have  no  objec- 
tion, then,  to  acknowledge  that  the  mere  mental  power  of  many  a 
man  have  been  as  great  as  Shakspeare's  originally ;  but  for  effect 
and  dynamic  action,  something  more  is  necessary  than  power 
merely  mental. 

This  is  enough  to  indicate  and  illustrate  the  connection.  We 
shall,  however,  announce  mose  precisely  the  conclusion  we  have 
come  to  upon  this  matter  first,  and  then  our  reasons  for  it.  It  is 
this  : — "  If  you  wish  to  develope  to  the  uttermost  your  own  intel- 
lectual powers,  or  those  of  youth,  whether  your  own  children  or 
those  committed  to  your  care :  the  first  and  greatest  means  is  the 
establishment,  to  the  completest  degree  that  the  instance  will  admit 
of,  of  the  supremacy  of  the  moral  power." 

We  shall  not  claim  to  demonstrate  this ;  we  shall  only  give  rea- 
sons that  may  show  its  probability. 

In  the  first  place,  more  persons  are  kept  from  a  development  of 
their  mental  powers  by  impediments  to,  than  by  actual  deficiency 
in  those  powers :  and  secondly,  almost  all  these  are  impediments 
to  the  "governing"  powers.  Look  at  the  reasons  why  children 
or  men  cannot  develope  their  mental  powers, — "  He  could  not  fix 
his  mind  to  study ;"  "  He  could  take  no  interest  in  studies ;"  "  I 
believe  he  could  study  well  enough  but  I  never  could  persuade 
him  to  do  so ;"  or,  "  He  knew  he  could  study,  and  that  he  ought 
to  do,  but  he  never  did  it."  What  are  these  excuses  which  we 
hear  so  often  ?     All  of  them  deficiencies  of  the  governing  powers, 


HUMAN  NATUilE.  '  75 

not  impairing,  but  at  the  very  first  -wHolly  preventing  the  exercise 
of  the  Mental  powers.  The  first  a  deficiency  of  the  Will,  the 
second  of  the  Afiiections,  the  third  of  the  Reason,  the  fourth  of  the 
Conscience.  Actual  stupidity  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  is  eausedy 
not  hy  deficiency  in  the  Mental  faculties,  hut  hy  inertness  of  the 
moral  powers ;  and  he  that  examines  history  and  sees  how  the 
fierce  passions  which  inflame  and  set  the  Will,  ambition  and  hatred 
and  avarice,  have  enabled  the  mental  powers  to  act,  may  see  this 
to  be  true.  He,  too,  that  sees  how  much  the  Afiections  will  both 
give  a  spring  and  impetus  to  mental  labor  shall  see  the  same. 

But  most  fully  it  may  be  observed  in  teaching.  In  fact  this  is 
the  great  secret  of  educational  ability,  the  skill  and  knowledge  of 
character,  to  see  that  "  in  the  moral  faculties  are  the  beginnings  of 
mental  ability,"  and  the  power  to  discern  in  the  pupil  that  part 
of  the  moral  nature  that  is  easiest  to  cultivate,  and  then  the  culti- 
vation of  it  so  as  to  apply  the  moral  force  mentally. 

This  explains  the  value  of  a  teacher  and  of  teaching  in  contra- 
distinction to  mere  reading. 

But  we  can,  I  think,  confirm  this  conclusion  by  another  reason, 
and  that  is,  that  if  we  look  at  actions  in  a  moral  or  religious  point 
of  view,  we  shall  find  that  all  immoral  actions  do  more  or  less 
impede  mental  activity.  With  regard  to  grosser  crimes  and  sins, 
it  is  sufficiently  manifest  that  they  decay  the  mental  powers,  nay, 
sometimes  utterly  erase  them.  With  regard  to  others,  I  think 
that  the  experience  of  most  men  will  show,  that  not  only  great 
sins,  but  even  moral  faults,  errors,  deficiencies  do  more  or  less 
impede  the  mental  powers,  and,  of  course,  to  take  them  away  will 
be  to  give  greater  freedom  to  the  mental  powers,  and  greater 
development. 

And  he  that  shall  consider  the  three  laws  of  these  governing 
faculties,  as  I  have  laid  them  out,  and  then  reflect  upon  the  power 
of  Motive  upon  mental  action,  the  power  of  Habit  and  the  power 
of  Order,  he  shall  not  be  slow  in  concluding  that  those  faculties 
whose  peculiar  office  it  is  to  guide  and  govern ;  secondly,  to  act 
continuously;  and  thirdly,  to  act  according  to  a  fixed  law ;  must, 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  thing,  have  an  exceeding  great  effect 
upon  intellectual  ability. 

But  to  conclude  this  subject.  I  would  request  the  reader  to 
suspend  his  judgment  until  he  has  seen  the  chapters  that  treat  of 
these  powers  separately,  and  then  I  hope  he  shall  see  so  much  to 


76  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

confirm  his  view  that  he  will  accede  to  the  opinion  I  have  here 
enounced. 

In  the  meantime,  from  a  very  extended  experience,  both  in 
teaching  and  in  observation  upon  society,  I  will  say  that  there  is 
more  mental  ability  and  mental  power  running  to  waste  in  this 
country  than  in  any  other,  and  that  ten  thousand  times  more 
mental  development  in  general  might  there  be  than  there  is ;  and 
the  reason  of  it  is  this,  that  as  teachers  and  parents  in  general 
we  do  not  see  the  relation  there  is  between  the  "governing"  and 
the  "mental"  powers,  and  we  often  omit  altogether  the  cultivation 
of  the  first,  and  apply  ourselves  entirely  to  the  development  of  the 
second :  and  for  that  reason  mental  ability  remains  torpid,  and 
powers  that  otherwise  would  be  in  vigorous  action  do  not  even 
germinate. 

The  remedy  for  this  is  in  a  careful  culture  bestowed  especially 
upon  the  moral  power ;  a  steady  and  equable  discipline  that  shall 
exercise  and  develope  to  the  utmost  the  Conscience,  the  Higher 
Reason,  the  Affections,  and  the  Will.  This  alone  can  remedy  the 
evil  of  which  we  speak. 


BOOK   II. 
THE    CONSCIENCE 


CHAPTER  I. 


Of  Conscience. — ^Mistakes  with  regard  to  it.— What  it  is  not. — ^It  ia  the  sense 
of  responsibility. — Socrates  and  Pythagoras. — The  action  of  Conscience  is, 
Ist,  Prohibiting,  2d,  Recording,  3d,  Prophetic. — ^The  Prohibiting  office  of 
Conscience  considered. — The  Recording  Conscience. — The  books  that  shall 
he  opened. — The  true  solution  of  the  facts  of  Conscience  is  the  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. — Conscience  in  us  is  not  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  the  ear  that 
listens  to  His  voice. — It  is  at  once  infallible  and  fallible. 

This  first  cliapter  we  have  entitled  "  of  Conscience,"  because, 
according  to  a  former  enumeration,  we  consider  that  he  who  would 
enter  upon  the  path  of  moral  improvement  must  begin  with  this 
the  first,  and  therefore  we  place  "  Conscience"  the  first. 

Now  we  confess  candidly,  we  think  that  this  matter  of  Con- 
science has  been  confused  and  disturbed  beyond  all  measure.  For 
there  are  some  that  confound  it  with  "  Consciousness,"  and  thereby 
make  it  merely  the  knowledge  that  we  have  internally,  by  our 
reasoning  power,  as  to  whether  we  have  acted  right  or  wrong. 
Again,  there  are  others  that  make  it  the  sense  of  right  or  wrong 
absolutely,  by  which  we  perceive  those  qualities,  whereas  there  are 
other  faculties  by  which  we  feel  right  and  wrong — the  Reason  and 
the  Affections — ^by  both  which  we  have  a  perception  and  measure 
of  right  and  wrong,  as  well  as  by  the  Conscience.  And  there  are 
others  that  call  it  exclusively  the  "  Moral  Sense,"  as  if  there  were 
other  "  immoral  senses,"  whereas  all  the  spiritual  faculties  are 
moral,  or  as  if,  by  it  alone,  we  were  guided  into  morality.  And 
others  there  are  who  consider  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  natu- 
ral faculty,  whereby  we  apprehend  a  Moral  Quality  in  any  action ; 

77 


78  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

and,  therefore,  wiien  vre  talk  of  Conscience,  conceive  that  it  is  but 
a  short  method  of  saying  that  such  a  thing  is  "useful,"  or 
"agreeable,"  or  "reasonable,"  or  "consonant  to  our  nature," 
or  to  any  other  standard  that  is  set  up.  Now  with  reference  to 
these  opinions,  we  shall  meddle  with  but  few  of  them.  Some 
are  decided  by  principles  previously  settled ;  some  others  are  mere 
paradoxes  which  we  need  not  argue  against ;  and  for  others,  it  is 
not  worth  arguing  for  or  against. 

We  shall  therefore  state  our  conclusion.  Conscience  is  not  the 
moral  sense  exclusively,  or  that  which  has  exclusively  a  natural 
perception  of  Good.  For  Reason  perceives  as  a  sense  that  which 
is  good  in  reference  to  our  individual  Self.  The  Affections  per- 
ceive that  which  is  good  in  reference  to  Society,  but  Conscience 
that  which  is  good  in  reference  to  a  future  responsibility  unto  Q-od. 
In  other  words,  the  Law  of  God  is  manifested  to  us  through  Rea- 
son and  through  the  Affections  as  through  Conscience.  By  all 
these  faculties  we  perceive  that  which  is  morally  Good,  or  as  some 
choose  to  style  it,  "the  moral  quality  in  actions."  Strictly,  there- 
fore, do  we  confine  the  definition  of  Conscience  to  the  "  percep- 
tion of  the  good  or  evil  in  action  with  reference  to  a  future  respon- 
sibility." 

Now,  let  any  man  look  to  these  three  faculties,  and  he  shall  see 
that  they  embrace  a  perception  of  Good,  or  of  accordance  with 
God's  will  in  all  things  that  can  possibly  come  in  contact  with 
man — the  Reason  in  reference  to  his  nature  internally,  and  the 
agreement  of  all  its  powers  with  the  external  system  ;  the  Affec- 
tions of  Good  and  Evil  in  reference  to  the  Home,  the  Family  and 
the  Church,  and  the  Conscience  of  "  Good  and  Evil  in  relation  to 
a  future  responsibility,"  or  what  may  still  more  plainly  declare  it, 
"  the  relation  of  Good  and  Evil  in  Time  and  Space  to  Good  and 
Evil  in  Eternity." 

The  Conscience,  therefore,  in  man,  we  consider  to  be  the  faculty 
by  which  he  perceives  the  moral  effect  of  actions  in  Time  in  re- 
ference to  their  results  upon  himself  in  Eternity.  It  is  that  sense 
which  over  and  above  the  idea  of  Right  and  Wrong,  has  with  it 
the  idea  of  duty,  the  sense  that  it  is  right,  and  proper,  and  suita- 
ble to  act  this  way,  and  not  that ;  and  the  sense  that  if  we  do  this 
way,  then  are  we  to  be  declared  just ;  if  we  do  that  way,  then  are 
we  to  be  declared  unrighteous.  That  it  is  the  sense  of  Duty  and 
of  Responsibility.     An  idea  manifestly  altogether  different  in 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  T9 

itself  from  that  of  a  perfect  accordance  with  Reason.  For 
although  that  which  is  perfectly  in  accordance  with  Reason,  shall 
also  he  perfectly  our  duty,  yet  still  in  fact  the  ideas  are  different. 

It  needs  no  other  proof  than  that  in  all  men  and  in  all  nations 
the  feeling  "  I  ought"  exists  cotemporaneous  with  the  feeling  of 
choice  in  actions.  The  child  feels  it  just  as  soon  as  the  man.  And 
oftentimes  this  feeling  "  I  ought"  shall  come  in,  in  an  action — 
we  shall  reject  it,  yet  suhsequent  experience  shall  show  it  to 
have  been  right,  Reason  shall  prove  it,  and  Law.  It  must  be, 
therefore,  a  separate  original  faculty.  Nay,  furthermore,  it  is  the 
earliest  in  action  of  all  moral  faculties,  and  that  which  is  the  gate 
of  entrance  unto  all  moral  action. 

Now,  in  this  stage  of  our  examination,  it  may  be  as  well  to  con- 
firm our  assertions,  by  the  opinions  of  two  men  antecedent  to 
Christ  and  Christianity,  Socrates  and  Pythagoras,  of  whom  the 
first  was  clearly  that  man  among  the  Heathen,  who,  by  the  force 
of  nature,  came  nearest  to  Christianity,  and  the  other  was,  per- 
haps, the  man  of  greatest  Genius  among  the  Ancients. 

Socrates,  as  the  foundation  of  his  own  moral  progress,  asserted 
that  it  depended  upon  his  Demon,  or  Spiritual  Guardian.  He 
asserted  that  this  spiritual  being  never  commanded,  but  always 
forbade,  so  that  if  he  were  going  to  do  anything,  and  he  felt  no 
prohii:>.tion,  then  he  might  do  it,  and  its  consequences  would  be 
good.  If  not,  he  felt  a  peculiar  check  coming  from  his  Demon, 
which  he  could  not  more  particularly  describe,  and  if  he  did  not 
comply  with  it  and  refrain,  evil  invariably  followed.  And  anec- 
dotes without  number  are  told  by  his  disciples  with  reference  to 
cii'cumstances  so  ensuing. 

Again,  with  regard  to  Pythagoras.  Although  in  regard  to  him 
we  are  in  more  diflSculty  than  in  respect  of  Socrates,  in  that  his 
lessons  were  given  to  a  secret  society  under  ambiguous  and  enig- 
matic forms,  still  we  can  see  that  his  moral  philosophy  was  one 
founded  upon  the  Conscience  and  the  Reason,  as  naturally  moral 
and  governing  powers.  His  Y  was  a  famous  instance  of  this.  The 
Greek  letter  upsilon,  similar  in  form  to  the  English  Y,  was  con- 
sidered by  him  to  be  a  "  deep  mystery." 

The  reader  will  see  that  in  the  figure  of  the  letter  there  is  one 
path  dividing  into  two,  one  to  the  right  and  the  other  to  the  left. 
The  "  mysterious"  meaning  of  it,  then,  is  that  at  each  moment  of  a 
man's  life  he  is  at  the  angle  of  the  fork,  two  paths  before  him,  one 


80  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

of  duty,  leading  to  happiness,  the  other  of  that  which  is  wrong, 
and  leads  to  misery.  That  this  position  is  a  perpetual  and  con- 
stant position  for  each  man  from  birth  to  death,  and  that  the 
commencement  of  Good  is  for  him  ever  to  turn  into  the  one  path 
instead  of  the  other.  A  parable  this  is,  which  clearly  depends 
Upon  a  Moral  Philosophy,  having  for  its  basis  Conscience  and 
Beason. 

Now,  let  US  consider  these  two  doctrines.  In  that  of  Pytha- 
goras is  shadowed  forth  the  twofold  nature  of  action,  as  right  or 
wrong — the  possibility  of  choice — the  fact  that  we  go  right  by  an 
effort  under  instruction — that  going  right,  we  go  upon  a  path 
whose  terminus,  while  we  know  it  to  be  happiness,  we  do  not  dis« 
cern.  Surely  in  this  emblem  of  the  great  Heathen  lover  of  wis- 
dom,* there  is  an  instruction  even  for  us  who  are  Christians. 

In  that  of  Socrates  we  can  see  that  his  idea  was  of  a  Guiding 
Power,  antecedent  to  reason,  or  knowledge,  or  experience,  yet 
whose  decrees  were  always  confirmed  by  them  afterwards ;  of  a 
power  that  was  prophetic  and  foresaw  evil,  yet  never  told  the 
nature  of  that  result  it  foresaw,  but  only  forbade  or  prohibited. 
And  lastly,  we  find  that  Socrates  invariably  attributed  this  to  a 
personal  influence,  existing  without  himself.  If  the  reader  will 
*  look  further  on  in  this  treatise,  he  shall  find  that  stripped  of  things 
alien  to  them,  these  notions  of  these  philosophers  were  neither 
more  nor  less  than  the  discoveries  of  the  natural  mind  in  refer- 
ence to  the  faculties  of  Conscience  and  the  Reason . 

We  will  not  pretend,  as  other  philosophers  have  done,  to  cast 
ourselves  back  into  the  situation  of  Socrates  or  Pythagoras,  and 
to  enter  on  the  solution  of  the  questions  to  them  insolvable,  which 
the  facts  presented,  upon  merely  the  means  that  they  possessed. 
For  this  is  "  a  Christian"  Science.  And  we  believe  that  to  the 
difficulties  of  Nature  there  is  no  other  solution  than  the  facts  of 
Grace;  to  the  problem  of  Natural  Religion,  nought  else  suffices 
save  the  Gospel.  There  is  no  Moral  Philosophy  true  and  perfect 
but  one  that  leads  to  and  ends  in  Christianity. 

We  say,  then,  that  these  facts  of  human  nature,  so  experienced 
and  represented  by  the  heathens,  Socrates  and  Pythagoras,  have 
no  solution  save  in  the  doctrines  of  Revelation.     1st.  That  there 

*  The  sages  before  him  had  been  called  "  wise  men" ;  Pythagoras  took  in- 
stead the  name  of  "  Philosophos,"  lover  of  msdom. 


THB   CONSCIENCE.  ii 

is  to  be  a  Future  Judgment  of  all  men,  and  all  actions  of  all  men. 
2d.  That  no  man  is  condemned  without  the  fullest  and  most  con- 
stant opportunity  and  capacity  of  having  done  according  to  God's 
"Will,  or  without  the  sense  at  each  moment  of  life,  as  to  which  is 
the  right  way  of  acting,  and  whether  he  was  doing  so  or  not.  And 
lastly,  That  this  sense  is  conveyed  to  him  by  a  Personal  Being 
having  a  power  and  authority,  and  knowledge  above  reason — that 
is,  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Paraclete. 

He  that  chooses  to  examine  the  facts  as  represented  by  these 
Heathens,  shall  see  that  of  the  questions  arising  from  the  facts — 
these  truths  are  the  only  solution.  Nay,  even  he  who  is  uubap- 
tized  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  that  shall  take  his  own  experience 
of  his  own  Conscience,  shall  find  no  solution  save  this,  and  that 
this  is  one  perfectly  adequate. 

We  have  already  defined  suflBciently  what  we  believe  Conscience 
to  be ;  we  have  guarded  it  from  being  mistaken  for  Reason  or  for 
the  Afiections.  It  therefore  remains  to  examine  it  in  and  accord- 
ing to  its  action.  Now  when  we  examine  Conscience  in  reference 
to  its  action,  we  find  that  its  actions  are  in  succession,  clearly  to 
be  divided  into  three  classes, — the  first.  Prohibitory ;  the  second. 
Recording ;  the  third.  Prophetic, — that  the  simple*  action  of  Con- 
science is  so  to  be  considered,  and  in  no  other  way. 

Now  if  our  reader  look  at  those  three  distinctions,  he  wiU  find 
them  represented  by  three  steps,  answering  to  a  Sylogism. 

The  first  is  Prohibitory. 

"This  act  thou  shouldest  not  do." 

The  second,  Recording. 

"  This  act  I  have  done." 

The  third  is  Prophetic. 

"Therefore  for  this  act  I  am  responsible." 

He  who  examines  Conscience  in  all  its  relations,  will  find  that 
this  embraces  the  sum  of  its  action.  The  Prohibitory  has  reference 
to  the  Present ;  the  Recording  to  the  Past ;  the  Prophetic  to  the 
Future. 

Upon  these  three  phases  of  Conscience  we  shall  proceed  to  dis- 
course, warning  our  reader  at  the  very  first,  to  think  that  these  are 
not  always  separate  and  distinct  in  time ;  but  that  we  so  divide  them 

*  By  "  simple,"  I  mean  considered  in  itself  abstractly — not  complicated,  as 
it  is  generally  in  connection  with  the  other  moral  powers. 

11 


82  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

for  the  purpose  of  more  fr.lly  considering  them,  and  because,  in  an 
act  of  Conscience,  the  throe  elements  always  exist  in  effect. 

Another  remark  also  we  would  make,  that  the  action  of  Con- 
science is  in  many  cases  complicated  with  the  action  of  Reason ; 
that  which,  in  and  because  of  our  own  nature,  assigns  a  reason  for 
action,  and  also  with  that  of  the  Affections ;  but  he  that  wishes  to 
analyze  Conscience,  shall  find  that  its  action  is  distinct  from  that 
of  both  these ;  and  that  whatsoever  we  call,  in  mere  ordinary  un- 
scientific discourse,  by  that  name,  if  it  come  not  under  these  heads, 
is  to  be  attributed  to  the  Reason  or  the  Affections. 

The  sense  of  "justice,''  for  instance,  is  an  Affection  of  Society, 
and  to  act  under  it,  is  to  act  under  the  influence  of  the  Affections. 
The  feeling  which  we  have,  that  action  upon  that  sense  suits  and 
coincides  with  our  own  nature,  and  is  ultimately  that  which  is  most 
appropriate  to  it, — this  is  Reason.  But  that  emotion  which,  at 
the  very  first,  when  we  are  upon  the  point  of  doing  an  unjust  ac- 
tion, says,  "this  is  not  to  be  done,"  thou«AaZf  not  do  it;"  and  then 
upon  our  doing  it,  says,  "this  has  been  done,  and  the  end  of  the 
action  is  not  yet;"  and  then  henceforth  anxiously  looks  forth  and 
says,  "the  end  of  this  action  is  what  I  know  not,  but  a  something 
that  is  to  be  feared,  although  unknown," — this  is  Conscience. 

It  is  manifest,  then,  that  the  Affections  enjoin  having  assigned 
a  reason  in  Society  and  its  laws.  Reason  does  as  the  Affections, 
only  that  it  gives  for  its  cause  the  advantage  of  the  man;  not 
barely  his  immediate  advantage,  but  his  ultimate,  complete,  and 
entire  advantage.     But  Conscience  prohibits  and  gives  no  reason. 

Now  we  have  said  that  the  first  oflBce  of  Conscience,  considered 
exactly  and  scientifically,  is  Prohibitory.  We  say  exactly,  for 
that  which  is  called  ordinarily  "Conscientious  conduct,"  is  conduct 
predicated  upon  the  three  moral  faculties  of  "Conscience,"  "Rea- 
son," the  "Affections,"  and  acted  out  with  the  power  of  a  de- 
termined "Will."  But  we  have  said,  that  the  first  action  of 
Conscience,  abstractly  considered,  is  negative  and  prohibiting ; 
that  its  formula  is  not  ^'■thou  shalt,"  but  ^Hhou  shalt  not."  We 
know  that  this  may  be  objected  to  as  not  being  sufficient ;  but  he 
that  considereth,  that  voluntary  action  embraces  thought,  word, 
and  deed, — that  within  voluntary  action,  all  morality  and  immo- 
rality lies, — that  voluntary  action  is  not  divided  into  two  parts, 
the  one  good  as  a  sepdrate,  independent  quality,  say  as  the  quality 
of  red  is,  and  the  other  evil,  a  separate  existing  quality,  as  green 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  88 

is  in  colors,  but  the  one  which  is  good,  an  actual  and  really  exist- 
ing quality ;  and  the  other  evil,  which  is  not  an  actual  and  really 
existing  quality,  but  is  the  negative  of  good:  he  may  easily  see 
how  it  is  that  Conscience  is  negative, — that  its  object  is  to  shut 
man  out  from  the  evil,  by  prohibiting  it,  and  thereby  to  shut  him 
into  the  good. 

And  in  illustration  of  this,  we  will  say,  that  in  children  the  first 
clearly  marked  moral  action  that  we  see  in  them,  is  from  negation. 
In  fact,  the  very  situation  and  position  of  childhood  renders  it  so.- 
For  if  there  were  no  morality  to  be  taught  to  children  save  tliat 
which  had  a  Reason  sufficient  and  adequate  assigned  for  it,  mo- 
rality could  not  exist  until  the  reasoning  power  had  been  fully 
developed;  whereas  the  fact  is  this,  that  with  voluntary  action 
there  awakes  this  sense  of  Right,  and  it  is  negative  and  prohibi- 
tory, not  reasoning.  And  when  we  look  to  children,  we  find  a 
very  great  capacity  and  tendency  for  the  Negative,  and  none,  or 
very  little,  for  that  which  founds  obligation  upon  reasoning.  Let 
a  mother  say  to  a  child,  "John  do  not  do  that,  for  it  is  wrong," — 
a  something  merely  negative,  for  it  is  a  prohibiting  command, 
founded  upon  a  pure  negative,  and  the  child  shall  obey,  his  inter- 
nal sense,  the  first  and  initial  moral  sense,  agreeing  with  the  exter- 
nal prohibition ;  but  reason,  argue  with,  try  to  persuade,  convince 
and  so  forth,  and  the  immediate  efiect  is  confusion  and  doubt. 
Hence  we  may  see  how  exactly  the  Internal  Nature  of  the  child 
agrees  with  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Authority  of  Parents, 
as  well  as  with  the  account  here  given  of  the  nature  of  the  Con- 
science. 

And  he  that  shall  listen  to  the  experience  of  savage  nations, 
and  of  those  without  Christ,  shall  find  the  experience  of  all  men 
universally  to  testify  to  the  existence  of  an  "  Inward  Check,"  a 
something  that  prohibits  and  forbids  some  actions,  and  is  close 
beside  the  will  and  desire  to  do  these  actions,  and  says  "No"  to 
that  desire.  But  furthermore,  we  shall  find  this  observation  con- 
firmed by  another  remark.  Let  a  man  go  according  to  his  Con- 
science, and  he  shall  go  easily,  without  feeling  any  bond  upon  him, 
any  guidance,  or  any  direction.  Let  him  go  against  it,  and  instantly 
he  shall  find  obstacles  and  prohibitions,  not  for  a  moment  only,  but 
momently  and  perpetually;  showing,  that  in  the  right  course, 
voluntarily  taken,  he  can  walk  freely,  without  compulsion  or  sense 


84  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

of  compulsion,  but  that  the  moment  he  goes  wrong  then  has  he  a 
sense  that  negatives  that  wrong  each  moment  of  his  action. 

It  will  he  seen  thereby,  that  the  faculty  we  are  considering  is  a 
moral  instinct  awaking  in  man  the  moment  voluntary  action 
awakes ;  a  part  and  portion  of  his  nature,  just  as  the  sense  of  sight 
is  a  portion  of  his  nature.  And  he  that  shall  consider  how  the 
physical  instinct  of  a  bee  actually  works  upon  a  principle  that 
supposes  the  knowledge  of  a  mathematic  investigation  of  the  very 
deepest  kind  in  him  who  implanted  the  instinct,  and  actually  and 
practically  takes  the  principle  for  granted  unconsciously,  he  shall 
have  no  very  great  difficulty  in  believing  the  existence  of  this  moral 
instinct*  of  right  and  wrong  existing  in  man. 

The  second  action  of  Conscience  we  shall  note,  is  its  Recording 
power  ;  and  when  we  speak  of  it  in  this  view,  we  shall  say  simply 
the  Recording  Conscience.  Now  with  regard  to  this,  the  assertion 
is,  that  it  naturally,  in  some  way  we  cannot  explain,  records  and 
keeps  recorded  each  action  of  the  man's  life. 

This  is  a  fact  of  Metaphysical  science  fully  established  by  all 
the  evidence  which  is  required  in  Physical  science  for  any  law  of 
nature.     Of  the  truth  of  it  enough  examples  are  to  be  found.f 

*  In  a  volume  of  the  London  Quarterly  Review,  -which,  being  in  the  coun- 
try, and  far  from  libraries,  I  have  not  access  to,  the  following  story  is  told  of 
Lesage,  the  mathematician  of  Geneva.  A  natural  philosopher  of  the  same 
city  came  to  him  and  asked  him,  "  -what  should  be  the  vertical  angle  of  the 
side  of  a  pyramid  with  a  hexagonal  base,  so  that  it  should  contain  the  maxi- 
mum of  solid  contents  -with  the  minimum  of  surface." 

Lesage  took  the  problem,  worked  hard  at  it  for  a  long  time,  and  then  told 
his  friend  the  answer — so  many  degrees,  so  many  minutes,  and  twenty-one 
eeconds.  Ilis  friend  told  him  that  he  was  wrong,  it  was  twenty  seconds,  not 
twenty-one.  Lesage  took  his  papers  back,  weait  over  his  calculations  again, 
at  a  great  cost  of  time  and  labor,  and  found  that  it  was  so.  lie  was  very 
curious  to  know  how  his  friend,  who  was  not  much  of  a  mathematician,  had 
solved  it.  He  had  taken  a  mathematical  instrument  for  the  measurement  of 
angles,  and  had  measured  the  angle  at  the  bottom  of  the  cell  of  the  bee,  pre- 
suming that  these  were  the  conditions,  and  then  set  the  mathematician  at 
work  to  test  his  experiment. 

And  it  was  so.  The  bee  had  unconsciously  worked  upon  a  principle  and 
rule  that  it  took  the  highest  intellect  and  the  highest  science  of  that  time  so 
long  to  investigate. 

Is  the  assertion  in  the  text  with  regard  to  the  moral  instinct  of  the  Con- 
Bcience  in  aught  more  extraordinary  than  this  ? 

t  There  is  a  gre^t  mystery  about  the  memory.    Men  have  apparently  for- 


THE  CONSCIENCE.         •  85 

Now,  upon  this  we  assert,  that  in  all  acts  of  the  Conscience  what- 
soever, beside  the  first  Prohibitory  or  Checking  action,  there  is  a 
second,  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first,  for  the  present,  is  to 
*'be  conscious"  of  it,  to  know  and  feel  at  the  time  that  it  is  the 
"/"  that  is  doing  and  none  else,  that  the  action  is  "mne,"  and 
excludes  all  other  personal  agents. 

This  consciousness  is  manifestly  an  indispensable  and  immediate 
attendant  upon  all  voluntary  action,  a  clear  knowledge  connecting 
the  individual's  "  Self  "  with  the  action,  so  as  to  infer  responsibility. 
And  this  consciousness,  when  the  action  has  gone  backward  into 
the  Past,  then  becomes  a  Record,  which,  from  what  we  have  above 
seen,  seems  incapable  of  being  erased  from  the  being  of  the  indi- 
vidual. So  does  it  seem  that  actually  and  really  the  Recording 
Conscience  of  the  individual  man  is  a  book  in  which,  day  after 
day,  and  hour  after  hour,  events,  as  they  pass,  are  enrolled  in  all 
their  minutest  circumstances ;  and  that,  although  to  me  now  but  a 
single  leaf  is  open,  and  I  may  have  forgotten  the  contents  of  all 
the  rest,  still  they  may  be  opened  again,  and  once  again  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Withholding  Spirit,  and  of  my  own  self-knowledge  or 
Consciousness  upon  them,  appear.* 

Hence,  too,  may  it  appear  that  at  the  day  of  judgment  the  books 
that  shall  be  opened  may  be  the  Consciousness  of  our  Omniscient 
Father  in  Heaven,  wherein  the  actions  of  all  men  are  perpetually 
and  eternally  enrolled ;  and  secondly,  the  history  of  the  events  of 
our  life  that  has  been  written  in  and  upon  our  being  by  the  Re- 
gotten  entirely  circumstances  and  impressions,  and  then,  under  the  influence 
of  some  great  stimulus,  the  memory  of  them  has  risen  up  again  clear  and  dis- 
tinct, as  the  sympathetic  writing  traced  upon  paper  comes  out  to  view  under 
the  excitement  of  the  peculiar  chemical  action  it  requires.  Men  have  forgotten 
the  language  of  their  childhood,  and  spoken  it  again  on  their  death-bed. 
Under  the  influence  of  delirium,  the  slightest  impressions  of  past  life  have 
come  up  again  to  consciousness.  The  flames  of  fever  have  brought  again  tc 
view  the  tracery  of  records  long  forgotten. 

For  these  and  other  facts,  for  which  I  have  no  space  in  a  foot  note,  I  refer 
to  modern  investigations  into  the  nature  of  the  mind.  The  conclusion  is,  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  "  Latent  memory."  That  by  it  "  no  impression,  no 
feeling,  no  thought  is  ever  actually  forgotten,  but  is  written  down  upon  our 
nature ;  so  that  there  exists  in  us  and  in  our  being  a  most  exact  transcript 
and  record  of  all  the  events  of  life,  to  he  called  foHh  when  requisite,  according 
to  the  wisdom  of  Almighty  God."    This  is  Latent  Memory. 

*  "  The  Spirit  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit." 


86  •       CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

cording  Conscience,  and  has  gradually  rolled  back  into  that  which 
to  us  seems  oblivion  and  forgetfulness,  and  yet  is  not  so. 

Some  call  this  "  Conscience  as  Witness,  Accuser,  and  Judge  ;'* 
we  have  preferred  the  appellations  we  have  given,  both  for  the 
sake  of  precision,  and  also  for  other  reasons  which  will  be  seen  as 
we  proceed. 

We  come  now  to  that  last  class  of  operations  that  we  attribute 
to  Conscience  ;  that  is,  what  we  shall  call  the  Prophetic  Conscience. 
By  this  we  mean,  that  there  is  a  third  operation  of  the  faculty,  in 
consequence  of  and  along  with  the  feeling  of  the  Check,  which  is 
the  first  part  of  the  action  of  Conscience ;  and  the  knowledge  that 
it  is  Recorded,  the  second  part  of  its  action.  Along  with  these 
emotions,  there  is,  coexisting  with  them,  an  apprehension  for  the 
future,  a  kind  of  dim  vague  feeling,  hardly  explaining  itself,  yet 
manifestly  existing,  of  consequences  of  infinite  weight  in  recom- 
pence  to  our  act. 

This,  as  well  as  each  of  the  other  two,  we  shall  find  in  every 
action  of  the  Conscience  distinctly  considered ;  and  this  will  and 
does  always  exist,  and  sooner  than  not  be  visible  and  palpable  to 
the  man,  it  will  take  to  itself  any  shapes  whatsoever,  even  of  falso 
religion  or  superstition. 

And  when  we  look  at  Conscience,  unaided  by  the  light  of  Reve- 
lation, this  is  the  most  mysterious  and  unaccountable  of  all  its 
actions ;  but  when  we  think  that  we  are  creatures  existing  in  time 
and  ^ei  framed  for  eternity,  then  can  we  see  what  it  is.  We  can 
see  that  it  is  the  stirring  of  the  immortal  and  the  undying  within 
the  mortal  and  perishing ;  the  dark  instinct  of  our  nature  lifting  its 
unopened  eyes  towards  heaven ;  the  peeping  of  the  young  bird 
over  the  nest  out  towards  its  home.  And  therein  is  the  function 
of  Conscience  completed,  that  it  is, that  sense  which  in  Time  pro- 
phesies of  Eternity. 

And  at  once,  when  we  consider  this  Prophetic  power  in  it,  and 
when  again  we  look  at  the  revealed  facts  connected  with  Eternity, 
of  Death,  Judgment,  Heaven  and  Hell,  we  can  see  that  these  are 
the  objects  towards  which  its  instinctive  action  points,*  prophesy- 
ing to  all  of  Infinite  fear  and  Infinite  pain  if  they  will  not  be 
ruled  and  checked  by  the  law  of  God. 

*  If  there  be  a  power  in  a  loadstone  that  shall  point  to  the  north,  is  it  a 
wonder  that  in  man  there  should  be  an  instinct  that  looks  blindly  to  the  judg» 
ment  throne  of  God  ? 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  8? 

We  have  now  gone  through  the  characters  of  this  that  we  call 
Conscience,  according  as  they  appear  to  the  natural  man,  or  what 
may  be  called  the  natural  ethics  of  the  Conscience ;  and  now  we 
come  unto  that  which  completes  them. 

Let  the  reader  consider  the  first  office  of  the  Conscience,  and 
he  will  see  some  things  in  reference  to  it  that  strangely  correspond 
to  the  facts  of  revelation.  We  attribute  to  this  faculty  a,  personal 
power,  as  if  it  were  the  influence  upon  us  of  an  individual  who  is 
not  ourselves.  We  say  "Our  Conscience  checks  us,"  "We  must 
obey  our  Conscience,"  "It  is  wrong  for  a  man  to  go  against  his 
Conscience."  What  is  this  but  to  say,  that  this  influence  is  a 
personal  agency,  separate  and  distinct  from  that  of  the  individual, 
and  operating  as  such  upon  him.  Again,  what  is  this  but  to  say, 
that  this  personal  influence  has  an  authority  over  the  man  in  all 
his  powers  and  faculties,  which  authority,  without  any  reason'  save 
its  expression,  the  man  is  bound  to  obey,  and  is  therefore  that  of 
an  entire  and  complete  supremacy,  a  complete  and  unqualified 
veto  upon  actions  of  every  kind.  Moreover,  we  can  see  more 
plainly  this  notion  of  a  personal  being,  in  the  fact  of  its  Recording, 
in  the  fact  that  those  things  that,  with  reference  to  the  responsible 
being,  man,  are  enrolled  in  the  Omniscient  Knowledge  of  God  his 
judge,  these  things  all  are  known  by  that  Recording  Spirit,  and 
at  any  time  may  be  brought  up  by  it.  Herein,  since  it  is  the 
same  Spirit  that  waits  upon  all,  we  see  Omnipresence  and  Omni- 
science manifested. 

Again,  in  reference  to  the  Prophetic  office  of  the  Conscience,  in 
the  forethought  it  has  of  the  Future  Judgment,  in  the  fact  that  it 
ever  attaches  the  idea  of  endless  pain  or  happiness  in  a  future 
eternity,  to  things  that  are  done  in  Space  and  Time  in  this  fact  we 
behold  again  the  attribute  of  Omniscience. 

These  are  things  that  all  men  see.  We  do  not  say  that  all  men 
are  brought  to  this  conclusion,  so  plainly  as  we  have  brought  it  out ; 
but  this  we  say,  that  the  facts  of  the  action  of  Conscience  are  plain 
to  all,  and  that  these  facts  are  most  easily  and  most  naturally 
classed  as  we  have  classed  them,  when  we  have  separated  that 
which  really  ought  to  be  separate — the  Reason  and  the  Afiections 
from  Conscience. 

And  then,  when  we  come  to  Natural  Religion,  we  find  that  if 
there  be  an  Almighty  and  Omniscient  Being,  not  only  Maker  and 
Creator,  but  Father  also,  and  Teacher,  there  ought,  upon  the  very 


88  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

idea  of  Responsibility,  of  filial  relation,  of  pupilage,  to  be  a  Per- 
■  sonal  Influence  proceeding  from  God,  and  dwelling  in  God — one 
attached  to  each  individual  in  the  world,  and  therefore  Omnipres- 
ent ;  knowing  the  hearts  of  all  men  and  the  will  of  God,  past  and 
present  and  future,  and  therefore  Omniscient ;  and  commanding 
all  men  without  reasons  assigned,  yet  infallibly  true,  and  therefore 
Omnipotent.  This  influence,  thus  invested  with  the  attributes  of 
the  Deity,  ought  therefore  to  exist  if  we  follow  up  the  facts  of 
Natm-al  Ethics,  with  the  reasonings  of  Natural  Religion,  and  build 
upon  them  the  edifice  which  the  considerations  of  Responsibility 
and  of  Natural  Justice  require  of  us  to  build. 

And  so  stringent  and  imperative  are  these,  that  the  most  ancient 
philosophy  of  the  east  has  ever  attributed  to  the  influence  that  pro- 
duces these  actions,  the  attributes,  and  all  the  attributes  of  di- 
vinity. And  they  in  modern  times,  who  have  begun  by  denying 
Christianity,  have  almost  invariably  been  driven  by  these  motives 
into  making  our  own  personal  being  to  be  God ;  and  that  against 
the  very  first  fact  of  the  Natural  Conscience,  which  clearly  dis- 
tinguishes between  our  personal  being ^  that  which  ought  to  submit, 
and  that  other  person  that  acts  upon  ours,  which  has  the  right  to 
command  with  an  unlimited  supremacy. 

But  we  say,  that  in  Revelation  alone  is  to  be  found  the  fact  that 
explains  all  this  enigma ;  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Reve- 
lation teaches  us  that  each  son  of  man,  from  birth  to  death,  is 
attended  by  the  influences  of  the  Third  Person  of  the  Trinity,  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  that  He  is  "God  of  one  Substance  with  the  Father;" 
that  he  "Proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,"  and  "is  Je- 
hovah and  the  Giver  of  light  and  life."  And  the  plain  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  in  regard  to  the  Spirit  is,  that  His  operation 
with  regard  to  all  men  is  to  warn  them  against  evil,  or  that  which 
is  not  good,  and  to  do  this  with  an  influence  that  carries  authority 
and  power  with  it,  and  admits  of  no  dispute.  That  being  a  per- 
sonal being,  and  Omniscient,  He  knows  and  records  all  the  actions 
of  the  individual  man ;  and  at  the  same  time  He  knows  all  the  will 
of  God  and  the  things  of  God,  as  being  of  "  one  substance  with 
the  Father,"  and  "one  with  Him." 

"  The  Spirit  searcheth  all  things ;  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God," 
"which  no  man  knoweth  but  the  Spirit  of  God." 

And  thus  the  actions  of  Conscience,  as  Checking,  Recording, 
Prophesying,  are  explaiaed.     Thus  is  man  witnessed  against  with- 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  89 

out  possibility  of  mistake  ;  thus,  at  the  moment  he  is  warned  and 
the  moment  passed,  his  act  recorded,  so  that  he  cannot  deny,  and 
then  ultimately  before  the  bar  of  God,  he  is  convicted  ;  "  his  spirit 
bearing  witness  with  the  Spirit,"  as  to  evil  done  in  a  full  sight  of 
his  responsibility.  And  thus  the  Omniscience  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  forethought  which  He  who  is  one  with  the  Father  has  of  the 
Future  Judgment,  the  authority  with  which  He  enforces  his  injunc- 
tions, and  the  absolute  certainty  with  which  He  can  warn  of  the 
future ;  all  these  attributes  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  great  agent 
of  prophecy,  both  to  the  Church  universal  as  also  to  the  individual ; 
explain  the  influences  of  the  Conscience,  and  show  the  reason  of 
its  prophetic  power. 

Thus  do  the  whole  of  the  Facts  of  Conscience  manifest  to  us  the 
agency  of  a  Personal  being  who  has  the  knowledge  of  God,  an 
infinite  knowledge  that  concerns  the  future  as  well  as  the  past, — 
an  Authoritative  Power,  to  which,  without  reason  assigned,  the  man 
must  bow, — a  Recording  Power,  which  has  reference  to  eternity 
solely,  and  a  future  judgment, — and  a  Prophetic  power,  that  con- 
nects time  with  eternity,  this  life  with  a  future  existence,  and  the 
actions  herein  done,  with  the  high  throne  of  God. 

We  have  said  that  Revelation  alone  afibrds  a  solution  for  the 
facts  of  nature.  And  we  say,  in  conclusion,  that  he  that  shall 
look  at  the  facts  of  the  natural  Conscience  in  all  its  influences 
upon  man,  .he  shall  see  that  no  other  solution  completely  and  en- 
tirely accounts  for  the  facts  of  Conscience,  except  this  fact  of 
Faith,  the  doctrine  of  the  being  and  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

And  this  leads  us  onward  to  another  question,  which  is  most 
important  in  all  matters  of  Conscience.  "Is  not  our  Conscience 
then,  the  Spirit  of  God?" 

How  important  this  is,  may  be  seen  by  supposing  it  to  be 
answered  in  the  aflirmative ;  for  if  it  be,  then  the  sole  judge  is 
Conscience  ;  then  a  man  has  in  himself  the  only  rule  ;  then  he  is 
the  judge  of  all  things ;  then  he  needs  no  learning,  no  knowledge, 
no  education ;  but  only  to  go  according  to  his  Conscience,  and  he 
shall  go  right,  infallibly  right.  Nay,  more  than  this,  he  shall 
need  no  Bible,  no  Church,  no  Religion  ;  for  if  his  Conscience  be 
God,  then  being  Omniscient,  it  must  overrule  all  external  things ; 
and  all  he  has  to  do  is,  go  by  that  rule ;  and,  with  regard  to  his 
fellows,  he  has  only  to  require  that  they  all  should  submit  to  him 
without  questioning.    These  are  conclusions  which  naturally  should 

12 


90  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

follow  from  the  notion  that  "  Conscience  is  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
which  are  its  legitimate  results.  And  he  that  shall  look  to  men, 
shall  find  that  a  great  many  hold  these  conclusions.  A  great 
many  consider  Conscience  as  infallible,  and  make  it  the  sole  and 
ultimafe  test,  who  have  never  thought  of  the  premises  upon  which 
the  conclusion  depends. 

Now  this  leads  us  onward  unto  one  of  the  most  important  prin- 
ciples of  Ethics  ;  we  will  say  a  fundamental  one.  That  is,  the  dis- 
tinction between  Conscience,  the  natural  faculty  in  us,  and  the 
voice  of  the  Holy  Q-host  without  us  ;  Conscience,  the  eye  existing 
in  our  nature  and  being,  whereby  we  see  the  light,  and  that  Light 
which  we  see ;  Conscience,  the  ear  wherewith  we  listen  to  the 
voice  from  heaven,  and  the  Voice  from  Heaven,  the  voice  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  that  is  audible  to  us  through  that  part  of  our  nature. 

We  say,  then,  that  so  far  as  Conscience  is  considered  under  the 
one  aspect  of  a  natural  faculty,  so  far  it  is  liable  to  the  same  in- 
firmities as  the  other  natural  faculties.  For  the  light  may  be  as 
the  sun,  and  yet  the  eye  which  is  blind  by  nature,  or  blinded  by 
accident,  never  see  it.  The  voice  may  be  that  of  many  waters, 
and  yet  the  deaf  ear  not  hear  it.  So  it  is  with  regard  to  the  Con- 
science, the  faculty  in  us  and  in  our  nature,  wherewith  we  listen 
to  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  a  different  thing  altogether  from 
the  Spirit  Himself.  And  yet  in  the  consideration  of  Conscience, 
both  the  Natural  Faculty  and  the  Divine  Energy  to  ^^hich  it  an- 
swers, are  to  be  considered. 

Now,  he  that  shall  look  at  this  last  principle  carefully  and  con- 
siderately, in  the  full  light  of  his  own  experience,  will  see  many 
conclusions  to  follow  of  the  most  important  and  the  most  interest- 
ing kind. 

In  the  first  place,  the  eye  and  power  of  sight  in  man  proves  to 
him  the  existence  of  things  visible,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  the 
means  of  bringing  him  to  the  knowledge  of  them.  And  no  argu- 
ment will  disprove  their  existence,  simply  because  he  has  a  natural 
faculty  whose  business  it  is  to  show  and  manifest  them.  So  of  a 
Future  Eternity,  no  argument  whatsoever  can  disprove  the  exist- 
ence, no  absence  from  sense  or  sight  annul  it,  because  of  it  the 
Conscience  is  our  sense,  and  because,  corresponding  to  the  Con- 
science, there  is  a  power  that  manifests  the  Future  Eternity  to  us 
as  far  as  concerns  the  actual  duties  of  the  present  life.  This  is 
an  inference  of  great  practical  importance,  binding  and  connect- 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  91 

ing,  as  we  have  said,  finite  acts  with  infinite  coqsequences,  Time 
with  Eternity,  the  limited  being  of  man  with  the  Infinite  God,  and 
that  through  the  Eternal  Spirit. 

But  the  most  important  conclusion  that  follows  from  it  is  this  : 
'■'■Sofar  as  the  dictates  of  our  Conscience  are  the  dictates  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  Crod,  so  far  Conscience  is  infallible."  This  is  the 
rule  of  the  governing  power.  Conscience,  which  follows  from  its 
own  nature  as  twofold,  a  natural  ear  or  a  natural  eye,  with  a  hea- 
venly voice  or  a  heavenly  light ;  and  this  combined  with  the  other 
laws  of  it  as  a  govferning  power,*  shall  give  us  completely  and 
entirely,  as  a  result  of  Ethical  Science,  the  doctrines  and  rules  of 
Conscience  as  applied  unto  life.  This  shall  be  the  subject  of  the 
next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  value  of  Conscience. — Our  position  in  consequence  of  it. — An  examina- 
tion of  it  in  action,  as,  1st,  Withholding;  2d,  Recording;  3d,  Prophesying. 
— The  emotions  that  are  sanctions  to  it,  1st,  Moral  Restlessness  ;  2d,  Shame  ; 
3d,  Fear. — The  mark  upon  the  Nature,  Ist,  the  Stain ;  2d,  the  Guilt. — Con- 
science is  not  properly  a  "judge,"  nor  the  pain  from  it  properly  "  punish- 
ment." 

From  out  examination  of  the  nature  of  Conscience  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter,  it  is  manifest  what  an  exceedingly  precious  endow- 
ment this  is  to  man.  A  secret  adviser,  so  secret  that  although 
inaudible  to  all  others,  it  shall  yet  speak  to  the  man  himself,  clearly, 
distinctly,  perpetually,  upon  all  emergencies  wherein  it  is  neces- 
sary, and  upon  all  occasions. f  One  too  whose  advice  is  not  to  be 
measured  by  the  man's  own  degree  of  knowledge  or  his  station, 
but  that  gives  to  the  ignorant,  the  poor  and  the  weak  the  proper 
and  suitable  guidance  for  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are. 
And  that  with  such  an  accurately  proportionate  action,  that  it 
has,  with  nO  small  degree  of  plausibility,  been  maintained  that 

*  See  the  three  laws  of  the  "  Governing  Powers" — Book  I.  Chap.  3. 

t  Of  course  here  is  to  be  made  the  exception — except  he  have  neglected  it, 
and  therefore  it  have  become  "  dull"  or  "  insensible,"  or  "  seared,  or  "dead." 
For  this  part  of  the  subject,  see  an  ensuing  chapter" of  this  book. 


92  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Jonscience  always  a  step,  and  only  a  step  in  advance  of  us,  and 
this  has  been  by  some  made  one  of  the  laws  of  the  Conscience. 

However,  be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  such  an  adviser  that  to  the 
ignorant  it  says,  "  Ignorant  as  you  may  be  of  worldly  knowledge, 
you  are  still  a  moral  being,  and  can  live  as  such ;  follow  me,  and 
you  shall  be  so,  and  shall  do  so — for  the  position  to  which  I  call 
you  is  but  a  step  from  your  present  one — within  your  reach,  and 
to  be  attained  by  you,  by  my  help."* 

To  the  poor  the  adviser  is  present,  too,  with  a  riches  that  sur- 
passes all  earthly  wealth — the  announcement  from  the  Eternal 
Throne,  by  the  Eternal  Spirit,  through  its  natural  adit  to  the 
soul,  of  its  infinite  value  as  a  Spiritual  Existence. 

To  the  ignorant  it  tells  of  this  sure  knowledge  that  ever  rises 
to  the  level  of  our  necessities.  To  the  self-distrusting  of  Omnipo- 
tence it  speaks  All-holiness  and  All-justice,  ready  to  support  him 
that  will  go  after  its  guidance.  It  tells  them  that  no  obstacle 
•shall  permanently  remain  in  the  way,  that  all  passes  shall  be 
opened,  all  barriers  burst  that  oppose  his  upward  progress,  who 
follows  this  guide.    . 

Such  are  the  advantages  to  us  of  this  gift  and  faculty,  looking 
at  the  matter  generally  as  we  have  looked  upon  it,  in  the  twofold 

'*  The  Christian  will  see  in  these  words,  combined  with  the  account  given 
of  Conscience  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  solution  of  a  great  question.  "By 
my  help" — that  is,  "  Not  of  you,  but  of  me  ;  not  of  your  nature  alone  and 
unaided,  but  of  it  as  aided  by  me,  the  personal  and  omnipotent  being  who 
speak,  through  the  Conscience,  to  all  men — the  Holy  Spirit." 

Hence  is  all  moral  strength  and  ability  of  God,  comingj^rs^  unto  us  from 
him,  and  not  arising  in  our  nature  from  nature  itself. 

Moral  strength  given,  to  the  unregenerate  first,  wholly  undeserved,  nay, 
often  against  their  own  wUl,  in  order  to  habituate  them  to  the  thought  of 
good,  to  teach  them  by  making  them  to  act  upon  that  power  for  which  they 
have  no  merit,  to  lead  on  in  the  way  of  life  by  support  and  secret  upholding 
powers :  This  probationary  moral  power  in  the  unregenerate  is  a  help  given 
even  to  the  evil,  according  to  the  will  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Infinite  Teacher, 
for  his  own  wise  purposes.  The  solution,  therefore,  of  the  question,  "  Does 
the  natural  man  do  good"  ?  is  this — all  the  good  that  even  the  natural  man 
does,  he  does  of  God's  Grace,  given  him  according  to  the  will  of  the  Spirit, 
and  Grace  comes  first. 

The  regenerate  man  is  in  a  diSierent  position,  having  from  the  Word  the 
strength  and  power  of  a  son,  but  still  not  of  himself,  but  of  his  new  birtli,  and 
his  new  privileges,  and  new  position.  But  of  this  last,  which  is  also  very  in- 
teresting, more  at  another  time. 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  93 

point  of  view  of  the  light  outside  us,  which  we  see,  and  the  ei/e  in 
us,  by  which  we  see  that  light,  and  also  not  as  yet  considering  the 
deficiencies  or  weaknesses  of  Conscience  the  faculty,  or  the  rules 
for  its  guidance,  matters  which  we  shall  in  a  future  part  of  this 
work  consider. 

Having  thus  seen  the  advantages  to  us  of  Conscience  as  a  gift 
and  faculty,  it  remains  now  to  examine  the  position  in  which  we 
are  placed  by  it — the  responsibility  that  is  upon  us  by  that  gift. 

Now,  when  we  look  at  the  action  of  Conscience,  we  see  that 
there  are  several  characters  that  belong  to  it,  as  considered  in  its 
relation  to  our  nature,  and  these  we  here  enumerate  by  way  of 
summary. 

1st,  It  is  commanding. 

2nd,  That  commanding  is  negative,  or  prohibitory. 
8d,  It  is  ever  present  with  us. 
4th,  It  pronounces  upon  all  our  acts. 
5th,  It  witnesses  of  all. 
6th,  We  naturally  apply  personality  to  it. 
7th,  Making  the  distinction  we  have  made,  as  to  its  twofold 
nature,  Conscience,  the  faculty  in  us,  we  may  consider  as  weak, 
as  liable  to  errors  and  mistakes,  but  Conscience,  that  which  is  per- 
ceived through  the  faculty,  we  consider  to  be  incapable  of  error  or 
of  mistake,  in  one  word,  to  be  infallible. 

And,  8th,  As  the  crown  of  all  that  we  attribute  to  the  Con- 
science, we  may  say  that  it  is  authoritative — it  has  authority.  We 
consider  that  it  is  entitled  to  rule,  and  that  we  are  privileged  and 
hound  to  obey.  As  the  Father,  within  certain  limits,  is  by  his 
very  position  as  Father  entitled  to  command  his  children  ;  as  the 
Magistrate,  within  the  restrictions  established  by  law,  can  com- 
mand ;  as  the  Master  orders  and  guides  his  servants,  such  is  the 
privilege  of  the  Conscience  over  the  man.  It  has  authority ;  its 
dictates  are  binding  upon  us. 

We  shall  carry  out  this  subject  of  the  authority  of  Conscience 
at  another  point  of  this  treatise ;  for  the  present  we  would  apply 
it  in  elucidating  the  position  of  the  individual  man.  Observing, 
then,  the  rule,  that  if  we  would  understand  fully  the  Moral  Powers, 
we  should  consider  them  rather  dynamically  as  powers  in  action, 
than  statically  as  powers  at  rest,  we  shall  see,  as  regards  the  man, 
plainly  what  the  nature  of  Conscience  is,  by  considering  it  in 
action.     All  actions,  then,  having  in  them  a  moral  quality,  and 


94  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Evil  being,  as  we  have  above  said,  not  the  contrary  of  Good,  but 
the  negation  of  it,  the  Conscience  in  its  twofold  nature  is  that 
which  checks  the  man  as  he  is  about  to  do  evil. 

It  follows  from  the  first  principle,  that  if  the  conscience  does  not 
check  him  in  any  action,  that  action  is  right,  provided  his  Con- 
science be  in  a  natural  and  healthy  state.  This  is  in  accordance 
with  that  which  the  Scripture  says,  "  If  our  '  heart'  condemn  us 
not,  then  have  we  peace  with  God."* 

In  the  second  case,  the  man  is  about  to  act  when  he  feels  con- 
veyed to  him  a  check,  a  sort  of  inward  force  opposed  to  and  nega- 
tiving his  intended  action,  yet  that  in  such  a  way  that  he  can 
always  overcome  it  if  he  will ;  and  has  the  full  consciousness  that  he 
can.  This  authoritative  check  he  feels  ;  and  if  the  appetite  or  de- 
sire which  awoke  him  to  action,  carry  him  on  to  overcome  the 
check,  then  has  he  acted  against  his  Conscience. 

The  act  would  be  evil  in  itself — but  it  has  immediate  conse- 
quences even  in  his  nature.  There  are  passions  of  his  being  which 
are  at  once  brought  into  play  as  sanctionsf  of  such  a  transgres- 
sion, and  these  are  properly  three,  and  only  three. 

1st,  Moral  restlessness,  or  the  negation  of  Peace  j 

2dly,  Shame; 

And  3dly,  Fear. 

We  introduce  the  consideration  of  these  three  in  this  place,  be- 
cause they  are  emotions,  or  passions,  or  feelings,  which  we  con- 
sider as  being  directly  and  immediately  connected  with  and  caused 
by  the  Conscience.  The  first  resolution  upon  them  is  that  they  are 
not  faculties,  as  memory  is  a  faculty ;  they  are  not  natural  feel- 
ings or  sensibilities,  as  the  sense  of  honor  or  the  sense  of  justice 
is  ;  they  are  "  emotions,"  peculiar  emotions,  whose  existence  and 
being  depend  upon  Conscience.  But  not  upon  the  existence  of 
Conscience  do  they  depend,  but  upon  the  fact  that  it  has  been  dis- 
obeyed. They  are  emotions  whose  possibility  only  exists  in  the 
nature  of  man,  the  realization  of  that  possibility  depending  upon 
the  violation  of  the  law  of  the  Conscience.  And  so  far  is  this 
true,  that  when  we  come  to  consider  our  apprehension  of  a  perfect 

*  1  John  iii.  20.  This  which  in  our  English  version  is  translated  "  heart," 
in  the  Hellenistic  Greek  ijieans  "  Conscience,"  from  the  Hebrew  usage  of 
the  word  "  heart." 

+  "  Sanction"  is  the  Penalty  legally  attached  to  the  breach  of  a  law. 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  95 

man  in  reference  to  this  part  of  Nature,  we  find  that  our  idea  is 
that  he  should  have  the  Conscience  perfect  as  a  guide,  and  that  he 
should  perfectly  obey  it,  and  therefore  that  in  all  his  actions  he 
should  possess  a  perfect  sense  of  moral  approbation,  and  a  perfect 
consciousness  of  right.  In  other  words,  to  such  a  person  moral 
restlessness  and  dissatisfaction  would  be  altogether  strange  and 
utterly  unknown.  Moral  calmness  and  peace  would  of  itself  be 
the  natural  state  and  condition  of  his  mental  atmosphere. 

Again.  Shame — the  sense  of  stain  and  pollution — this  would 
not  exist  at  all  in  man  unfallen,  for  the  simple  reason  that  evil 
would  not  have  been  done,  and  that  the  purity  of  the  nature  would 
not  have  been  polluted  in  or  by  any  action.  Thus  Shame  is  the 
feeling  of  an  actual  Stain  upon  our  moral  nature.  The  emotion 
that  attends  our  knowledge  that  we  are  defiled  by  sin,  never  could 
have  existed  in  the  man  unfallen,  in  whom  the  Conscience  was  un- 
violated,  but  in  us  arises  from  its  violation.  y    '' 

With  regard  to  the  Moral  Restlessness  and  Shame,  that  they 
could  not  exist  in  an  unfallen  nature  may  be  easily  granted. 
With  regard  to  the  Fear,  I  know  that  objections  may  be  taken  ; 
it  may  be  said  that  Fear  is  a  natural  faculty  or  passion,  having 
reference  not  to  Conscience,  but  to  Pain.  Upon  this,  I  say  that 
if  my  reader  will  only  examine,  he  will  find  that  caution  against 
pain,  or  apprehension  of  it,  is  not  fear ;  that  the  only  real  and 
true  fear,  properly  so  called,  is  that  which,  with  violation  of  Con- 
science in  Time  connects  consequences  in  Eternity — that  is  Moral 
Fear. 

The  truth  of  this  view  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  these  three 
emotions,  Moral  Restlessness,  Shame  and  Fear,  may  be  seen  in 
the  manifest  difference  between  the  unfallen  man  and  the  fallen 
nature  of  the  same  person.  There  is  no  mark  of  any  of  them  in 
Adam  unfallen ;  but  he  is  represented  as  calmly  dwelling  in  inno- 
cence and  peace,  feeling  no  sense  of  Shame,  no  emotion  of  Fear, 
but  as  a  limited  being,  perfect  in  his  nature,  communing  with  the 
Unlimited  Perfection  of  the  Almighty,  and  at  once  upon  the  turn- 
ing point  of  the  Fall  all  these  emotions  then  make  their  appear- 
ance. Adam  and  his  wife  hide  themselves  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord  among  the  trees  of  the  garden ;  and  in  reply  to  the 
questioning  of  the  Lord  he  said,  "  I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  gar- 
den, and  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was  naked ;  and  I  hid  myself.'^ 
Restlessness,  and  Shame,  and  Fear,  at  once  become  constituent 


96  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

elements  of  that  nature,  which  before  in  perfecl;  calmness  and 
tranquil  self-assurance,  had  walked  face  to  face,  um-eproached, 
with  the  God  of  perfect  purity  and  almighty  power. 

This  fact  that  these  emotions  did  not  exist  in  the  man  unfallen, 
but  that  at  once  they  manifest  themselves  upon  the  instance  of 
the  Fall, — this  confirms  the  account  I  have  given  of  them,  as  emo- 
tions depending  upon  the  Conscience. 

And  when  we  come  to  examine,  in  reference  to  this  point,  the 
life  and  acts  of  our  Lord,  we  find  an  utter  absence  of  these  emo- 
tions,— that  Moral  restlessness,  which  is  an  especial  quality  of  our 
Human  Nature  unregenerated  by  God's  Holy  Spirit, — in  fact,  of 
all  men  that  are  not  "born  anew  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  and  "  re- 
newed day  by  day  in  the  spirit  of  their  minds," — of  that  restless- 
ness we  cannot  discover  a  trace  in-  Christ  our  blessed  Lord.  There 
is  no  sign  of  it  at  any  period  of  his  life  in  Him.  His  self-con- 
sciousness is  calm  and  quiet,  and  assured.  No  evidence  is  there 
in  Him  of  "moral  progress;"*  of  "newness  of  ground,"  or  "ad- 
vance of  position,"  or  "expansion  of  views;"  but  the  same  undis- 
turbed moral  position,  he  keeps,  adequate  completely  and  entirely 
to  the  position,  and  abiding  in  it  patiently. 

And  then,  with  regard  to  what  we  call  Shame,  an  emotion  that 
we  may  plainly  say  there  is  none  of  the  Human  race  b  ut  Christ 
that  has  not  felt ;  as  for  this,  in  all  Christ's  relations,  as  a  man 
born  of  a  woman,  there  is  not  the  smallest  evidence  that  He  even 
felt  it  in  any  degree. 

Moral  Fear  also,  he  seems  not  to  have  felt,  while  of  mental  as 
well  as  bodily  sufiering  and  pain,  he  seems  to  have  had  the  appre- 
hension. But  upon  this  point,  I  shall  not  dwell  too  closely,  seeing 
that  it  would  be  to  attempt  to  enter  into  the  gates  of  a  mystery 
which  angels  cannot  comprehend,  the    mystery  of  the  Atone- 

*  These  are  part  of  the  ordinary  talk  of  so-called  reformers.  I  need  not 
Bay  how  they  jar  upon  my  mind,  whose  doctrine  is  that  expounded  in  this 
book,  "  duty  to  God  and  man,  acted  upon  from  childhood  to  old  age."  The  sole 
"  moral  progress,"  I  believe,  is  Duty  better  done ;  the  sole  "  expansion  of 
views,"  is  the  consequent  clearer  view  of  God  and  Heaven.  No  "  advance 
of  position,"  save  in  this,  no  "  newness  of  ground,"  do  I  consider  possible 
morally ;  no  ground  in  fact  can  support  us  save  that  old  ground  of  "  Nature 
explained  and  guided  by  Grace."  If  I  have  erred  in  bringing  these  cant- 
phrases  of  a  wretched  and  self-deluding,  yet  earnest  philosophy,  in  proximity 
to  the  name  of  our  Lord,  I  hope  I  may  be  pardoned  by  my  readers,  for  this 
error. 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  97 

ment  of  our  Most  Blessed  Lord,  both  God  and  man;  because 
while  I  can  see  that  he  endured  Physical  and  Mental  agony ;  while 
I  can  argue  that  this  was  Infinite,  still  from  the  fact  of  its  Infinity 
I  cannot  comprehend  but  must  only  believe  and  adore. 

And,  moreover,  I  know  that  the  Church  has,  in  a  measure,  de- 
termined that  over  and  above  the  agony  visible  to  man,  of  which 
man  can  judge,  the  infinity  of  bodily  and  mental  agony,  borne  by 
Christ  the  Tnan,  because  at  one  and  the  same  time,  he  was  God ; 
besides  this,  the  Church  has  determined  in  her  liturgical  prayer, 
used  in  the  Greek  Church,  "By  all  thy  sufferings  known  and 
imknown,  have  mercy  upon  us,"  that  over  and  above  the  mental 
and  physical  agony,  there  was  another  infinity  of  Spiritual  Pain 
borne  by  him,  to  the  bare  knowledge  of  which,  in  our  present 
state,  we  cannot  reach.  Into  the  holy  gloom,  and  the  divine  mys- 
teriousness  of  Christ's  sufferings,  we  shall  not  then  attempt  to 
penetrate ;  for,  in  view  of  that  infinite  suffering  which  he  bore  for 
us,  it  is  manifest*  that  he  "  feared,"  nay  (Hebrews  5  and  7,) 
"That  he  was  heard  in  that  he  feared." 

Upon  this  point,  therefore,  since  it  is  beyond  our  apprehension, 
we  shall  not  press,  nor  shall  we  suffer  it  to  be  pressed  against  us, 
but  will  leave  it  with  two  remarks  :  First,  that  His  suffering  he 
bore  not  for  himself,  but  for  others,  and  it  was  infinite ;  and 
secondly,  that  of  either  selfish  or  Moral  Fear,  we  see  no  speck  in 
his  whole  life.  These  two  remarks  will,  I  hope,  go  then  rather  to 
confirm  than  to  weaken  the  view  advanced. 

I  might  also  refer  to  those  before  Christ,  who  came  nearest  to 
the  moral  teaching  of  the  Gospel,  to  show  that  these  emotions, 
have,  by  them,  ever  been  connected  with  the  Conscience.  In  fact, 
the  wisest  of  their  poets  and  of  their  philosophers,  unhesita- 
tingly declare  it.  I  might  also  refer  to  the  experience  of  all  men 
in  these  latter  days,  to  declare  that  calmness  of  mind  and  tran- 
quillity can  only  come  from  a  Conscience  determinately  and  con- 
sistently obeyed ;  that  from  such  a  Conscience  only,  can  come  the 
mind  that  will  abide  through  life  unashamed,  and  fearless,  and 
that  will,  if  Duty  requires  it,  stand  up  in  its  behalf  unterrified. 
This,  each  man,  whose  rule  is  to  obey  his  Conscience  always,  can 
say,  is  the  invariable  result  of  that  obedience,  freedom  from 
Restlessness, — that  is,  Peace  of  Mind;  freedom  from  Shame, — » 

*  Matthew  xxi  39. 
13 


08  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

that  is,  Self-approval ;  and  freedom  from  Fear, — ^that  is,  Moral 
Courage. 

But  the  Scriptures  fully  assert  the  same,  "Brethren,  if  our  Con- 
science (Heart  in  the  original,)  condemn  us  not,  then  have  we  con- 
fidence towards  God."*  "The  wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea, 
casting  out  mire  and  dirt  continually,  "f  Again,  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth  in  him,  shall  not  be  ashamed."|  "There  is  no  fear  in 
love,  but  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear;  for  fear  hath  torment. "§ 
"He  that  feareth,  is  not  made  perfect  in  love." 

The  way  in  which  we  connect  these  texts  with  our  subject  is, 
that  the  Conscience  in  its  action  upon  the  life  of  man,  can  only 
reach  perfection  under  Christ ;  and  that  in  these,  and  innumerable 
other  passages  that  can  be  quoted,  the  sum  and  completion  of 
Christianity  in  its  effects,  is  in  an  Holy  Peace  ;  first,  which  is  the 
very  opposite  of  Moral  Restlessness, — 2ndly,  in  deliverance  from 
sin  and  its  "Shame," — and  3dly,  in  the  freedom  from  "Fear," — 
which  doctrine,  it  is  manifest,  fully  confirms  our  statement  as 
to  the  nature  of  these  emotions,  and  their  relation  to  the  Con- 
science. 

Having  shown,  therefore,  the  nature  of  the  emotions  that  are 
the  sanctions  of  the  Conscience,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  examine 
its  action. 

The  individual  man  in  his  course  of  life,  we  will  say,  intends  to 
do  some  act ;  in  the  moment  of  intention,  before  he  has  acted,  he 
receives  the  feeling  of  an  internal  check,  a  moral  negative  to  ac- 
tion, which  is  suddenly  interposed  as  an  obstacle  between  the  inten- 
tion and  the  action,  under  the  conditions  I  have  before  noted,  and 
which  I  will  not  here  again  repeat.  To  overcome  that  obstacle, 
he  must  use  an  effort,  and  that  a  conscious  voluntary  effort;  so 
that  he  knows,  that  of  his  own  will,  freely  and  knowingly,  he  breaks 
across  that  obstacle  or  impediment.  Now  if  the  Conscience  be  in 
its  due  state,  and  perfect,  invariably  its  negative  shall  be  only 
upon  the  evil, — that  which  it  forbids  shall  be  evil.  The  man, 
therefore,  in  breaking  through  its  obstacle,  shall  have  willingly 
and  consciously  done  evil, — done  it  freely  and  knowingly,  and 
therefore  have  been  guilty. 

But  to  resume,  when  he  has  done  the  action  against  which  the 

♦  1  John,  iii.  21.  t  Rom.  ix.  33. 

t  Isaiah,  Ivii.  20.  §  1  John,  iv.  18. 


THB   CONSCIENCE,  99 

Withholding  Conscience  protested,  freely  and  hnowingly  and  ly 
an  effort  overcoming  the  barrier  placed  in  his  way,  then  at  once 
it  is  chronicled  by  the  Recording  Conscience,  and  evermore  it  is 
liable  to  be  brought  up  to  him,  and  presented  to  his  view  as  con- 
nected with  a  stain  ;  a  feeling  that  to  his  moral  nature,  being  of 
itself  good,  this  evil  action,  done  freely  and  knowingly,  is  that 
which  to  pure  white  a  blotch  of  filth  is,  a  Stain.  And  this,  there- 
fore, is  one  effect  of  evil  done — the  Stain  upon  the  nature  producing 
the  Shame.  The  Stain  is  the  effect  on  the  nature ;  the  Shame  is 
the  mental  emotion  corresponding  to  that  effect. 

The  Recording  Conscience  has  the  power,  as  we  know,  of  bring- 
ing up  that  act  with  its  Stain  again  and  again  to  the  individual 
man ;  but  under  what  conditions  this  takes  place,  it  is  in  vain  for 
us  to  guess  ;  and,  so  far  are  we  from  being  able  to  decide  upon  the 
laws  by  which  it  happens,  that  when  we  attempt  to  classify  them 
we  are  perfectly  unable  to  reach  any  decision.  In  some  men  sick- 
ness or  danger  shall  always  bring  them  up ;  in  others,  peculiar 
circumstances  of  life ;  in  others,  mere  trifles  at  long  intervals  ;  and 
in  others,  the  recalling  of  these  things  shall  be  almost  hourly :  so 
that,  perhaps,  looking  at  the  circumstances  that  concern  the  bring- 
ing up  of  past  misdeeds  by  the  Recording  Conscience,  the  best 
thing  to  do,  instead  of  trying  to  form  laws  of  their  re-presentation 
to  the  mind,  is  to  say,  that  they  take  place  according  to  the  pur- 
pose and  will  of  the  Omnipotent  and  Omnipresent  Spirit,  whose 
organ  the  Conscience  is.  So  far  with  regard  to  the  action  of  the 
Recording  Conscience. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  action  of  the  faculty,  that  of  the  Pro- 
phetic Conscience ;  and  with  regard  to  this,  we  have  already  said  that 
Conscience,  "by  its  very  nature,  attaches  consequences  in  Eternity 
to  actions  done  in  Time."  This,  in  action,  is  that  part  of  the  offices 
of  the  Conscience  we  call  the  "  Prophetic  Conscience ;"  and  he 
that  shall  look  at  the  two-fold  nature  of  the  Conscience,  the  first 
part  as  a  faculty  of  man  limited  in  power  and  in  action  to  Time 
and  Space,  and  yet  immortal ;  and  the  second,  the  action  upon 
that  faculty  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  infinite  in  power  and  knowledge, 
he  that  shall  consider  that  in  this  faculty  there  is  thus  a  concur- 
rence of  the  Infinite  with  the  Finite,  and  of  the  Spirit  of  God  with 
the  spirit  of  man,  shall  be  at  no  loss  to  see  how  it  is  that  naturally 
the  idea  of  infinite  consequences  is  connected  with  acts  done  in 
Time  and  Space. 


100  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  it  ought  not  to  be  so,  and  thence  to 
argue  that  it  is  not  so,  just  as  it  would  be  vain  to  argue  against 
our  seeing  a  star  eighty  millions  of  miles  away,  because  one  fact 
and  the  other  takes  place  by  a  natural  sense  receiving  an  external 
light.  It  is  a  matter  of  fact,  that  we  have  the  natural  eye  ;  that 
the  eye  receives  a  light  which  originates  millions  of  miles  away, 
strange  and  incredible  as  it  may  seem.  And  so  the  natural  faculty 
of  Conscience  is  a  fact ;  the  existence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  fact ; 
his  light  upon  us,  connecting  Time  with  Eternity,  is  a  fact :  better 
far  make  use  of  these  facts  for  the  purpose  intended  than  attempt 
to  argue  against  their  existence  ;  for  facts  lose  not  their  reality  by 
assertion,  nor  yet  by  argumentation.  He  that  shuts  his  eyes  doea 
not  annihilate  the  sun,  nor  will  the  arguments  of  a  man  that  ia 
blind  by  accident  prove  to  me  that  there  is  no  light.  Upon  all 
these  matters,  the  universal  persuasion  of  all  mankind  is  naturally 
taken  to  be  true,  and  is  true. 

Now  as  with  regard  to  the  "Withholding  Conscience,"  it  checks, 
and  the  Recording  Conscience  presents  again  and  again  the  fact 
of  our  transgression  as  a  Stain,  and  the  consequence  in  the  man 
is  the  emotion  of  Shame ;  so  with  regard  to  the  Prophetic  Con- 
science, this  is  its  office,  that  it  connects  acts  of  transgression 
against  the  Conscience,  that  have  taken  place  in  Time,  with  a 
responsibility  in  Eternity.  It  tells  the  man  "  what  you  have  done 
here  is  not  ended,  although  past,  apparently  come  to  an  end,  but  it 
has  its  consequences  there."  Thus  the  Prophetic  Conscience,  unto 
the  breach  of  the  dictates  of  Conscience,  attaches  the  peculiar  idea 
of  responsibility  for  evil ;  the  idea  that  although  our  act  is  done, 
and  no  earthly  consequences  but  those  that  are  beneficial  may 
happen,  still  most  certainly  evil  will,  in  the  future,  ensue. 

For  I  think  it  a  thing  not  to  be  denied,  but  a  most  certain  fact, 
that  men,  in  some  cases,  have  done  evil,  from  which,  in  this  world, 
they  have  received  not  only  no  harm,  but  even  good  ;  so  that  no 
law  of  their  own  being  or  of  external  nature  recompenses  to  them 
the  evil  they  have  deserved.  I  think  it  most  certain  that  some 
men,  acting  against  their  own  Consciences  systematically  and 
habitually,  have  yet  in  this  world  received  no  harm  from  it,  but 
rather  a  superabundance  of  that  which  they  estimated  as  good ; 
and  that  the  penalty  of  Evil  and  the  reward  of  Good  is  not  the 
consequence  of  a  law  of  nature,  but  is  the  immediate  infliction  of 
punishment  by  the  Will  of  a  just  and  intelligent  being,  who  is  God, 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  101 

The  Prophetic  nature  of  Conscience,  then,  consists  in  this,  that 
by  it  acts  against  the  Conscience  are  perpetually  brought  up  and 
re-presented  to  the  mind,  with  the  intimation  that  the  being  who 
did  them  is  liable  to  punishment,  and  that  that  punishment  is  in 
Eternity  ;  which  two  ideas,  as  combined  in  the  mind,  we  term  by 
that  one  phrase,  "  Guilt ;"  so  that,  with  regard  to  an  act  against 
the  Conscience,  the  effect  of  it  upon  the  Conscience,  in  reference 
to  the  future,  is  the  sense  of  its  responsibility  to  a  Judgment  and 
Condemnation  in  Eternity.  This  liability  we  call  "  Guilt,"  and 
the  corresponding  emotion  we  call  "Fear." 

Now  when  we  look  at  the  facts  of  human  nature,  we  find  this  of 
Responsibility  a  fundamental  fact  of  our  nature,  a  fact  that  for  all 
evil  we  count  ourselves  "  under  the  liability  and  obligation  of 
punishment ;"  and  that  this  liability  exists  to  a,  jperson;  not  to  a 
physical  or  natural  law,  but  to  a  person. 

Secondly,  that  it  implies  to  the  eternal  being  an  eternal  punish-« 
ment  adequate  to  each  act  it  has  done  in  time,  however  numerous 
the  sum  total  of  the  acts  may  have  been.* 

And  thirdly,  that  for  all  men,  up  to  the  very  date  and  hour  of 
their  death,  the  Prophetic  Conscience  places  the  punishment  in  the 
Future. 

Hence  may  it  be  seen,  from  the  first  point,  that  the  instinct  of 
nature  is  towards  the  truth  of  a  personal  God,  when  declared  to 
us,  as  universally  it  is,  by  the  Tradition  of  Society ;  so  that  the 
feeling  of  Guilt  in  us  is  a  proof  of  a  personal  Deity.  The  second 
fact  implies  that  Eternity  is  a  different  state  from  Time  in  kind, 
not  merely  in  degree :  and  the  third,  that  the  place  of  justice  and 
true  recompense  is  that  state,  and  not  our  present  one.  We  find 
all  these  ideas  embodied  in  the  feeling  of  "  Guilt"  and  the  emotion 
of  "Fear;"  and  the  truths  to  which  they  answer  are  those  of 
Responsibility  to  the  One  God,  of  a  Judgment  that  gives  to  all  acts 
their  due,  in  a  state  that  admits  of  complete  justice,  the  state  of 
Eternity.  These  are  truths  which  no  argumentation  will  refute, 
no  denial  invalidate,  because,  as  we  have  shown,  they  are  truths 
of  our  own  nature,  evinced  by  the  facts  of  our  own  being,  and  wit- 
nessed unto  by  Almighty  God  through  his  Spirit. 

*  "  That  servant  which  knew  his  Lord's  will,  and  prepared  not  himself, 
neither  did  according  to  his  will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes ;  but  he 
that  did  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with 
few  stripes."    Luke  xii.  47.  48. 


102  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Thus  do  we  see  that  the  Prophetic  Conscience  brings  np  to  ua 
acts  against  the  Conscience  in  reference  to  Eternity,  and  with 
that  peculiar  mark  upon  them  that  we  call  "  Guilt,"  the  sense  of 
obligation  to  a  punishment  after  Time  is  passed  awaj ;  and  answer- 
ing to  this  is  the  emotion  of  "Fear." 

There  are  two  supplementary  questions  that  may  be  considered 
in  this  chapter.  The  first  is  tliis,  Is  Conscience  a  Judge  f — the 
second.  Does  Conscience  punish  us  ? 

The  answer  to  the  first,  from  the  account  we  have  given,  is  that 
in  the  sense  of  pronouncing  upon  the  quality  of  action,  as  liable  to 
future  condemnation,  so  far  metapliorically  Conscience  may  be 
called  a  judge ;  but  in  the  true  and  real  sense  oi  finally  and  autho- 
ritatively pronouncing  decision  judicially ^  it  is  not  a  judge.  It 
declares  to  us  first  the  quality  of  action  with  great  certainty ;  then 
again  it  records  our  transgressions,  and  in  the  future  judgment  it 
shall  from  that  record  be  a  most  certain  witness.  And  again,  of 
that  trial  and  its  result,  it  gives  us  a  certain  prophecy.  All  this 
it  does,  but  this  amounts  not  to  being  a  judge  in  any  strict  sense. 
The  Judgment  is  in  Eternity,  when,  instead  of  conferring  with 
Him  by  means  and  faculties  such  as  this  of  Conscience  is,  we  shall 
be  brought  face  to  face  with  the  Almighty. 

Still,  this  warning,  this  recording,  this  prophesying  has  in  itself 
a  most  important  value,  from  the  fact  that  it  is  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  who  is  God  of  one  substance  with  the  Father,*  that  it  takes 
place.  But,  as  we  have  above  said,  it  is,  in  this  world,  warning, 
recording,  prophesying  of  judgment,  and  not  judging. 

The  next  question  is  this :  Does  Conscience  punish  ?  And  the 
answer  here  again  is:  "No!  Conscience  does  not  punish  in  any 
proper  sense." 

If  we  say  thatf  "  suffering  pain,  in  consequence  of  any  action, 
is  the  punishment  of  that  action,"  then  we  may  say  that  "  Con- 

*  Nicene  Creed. 

t  The  opinion  that  "personal  suffering  is  always  the ' punishment  of  per- 
sonal transgression  of  the  laws  of  the  universe,"  in  other  words,  of  Sin,  is,  1 
am  sorry  to  say  it,  a  very  wide  spread  opinion  in  these  days.  It  is  an  old 
error,  held  by  the  Pharisees,  those  men  of  hard  hearts,  in  our  Savioui-'s  day, 
and  by  him  rebuked  severely.  "  Master,  who  did  sin,  this  man  or  his  parents, 
that  he  was  bom  blind?  And  He  said,  "Neither  this  man  did  sin  nor  his 
parents,  but  that  the  works  of  God  might  be  made  manifest  in  him.  Again, 
they  told  him  of  the  Galileans,  whose  blood  Pilate  had  mingled  with  their 
Bacrifice.    And  he  said,  think  ye  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  103 

science  punishes."  But  the  principle  is  wholly  untrue ;  for  suf- 
fering is  not  so  connected  with  evil,  as  to  be  always  its  consequence ; 
so  that  you  can  say,  that  always  where  there  is  in  this  world  suflfer- 
ing,'there  has  been  sin  on  the  part  of  the  sufferer;  and  in  this  case, 
we  can  see  that "  Shame"  being  the  sense  of  Guilt,  in  no  sense  is  the 
punishment  of  the  act  recorded,  but  only  the  feeling  coming  from 
the  Stain  ;  and  the  Fear  corresponding  to  the  Guilt  is  by  no  means 
the  punishment,  but  only  the  anticipation  of  the  punishment. 

To  speak,  then,  of  Conscience  inflicting  punishment  upon  us,  is 
a  thing  wholly  and  entirely  wrong;  while  to  speak  of  the  "pain," 
or  the  "torments"  of  an  accusing  conscience,  is  perfectly  right. 

the  Galileana,  because  ihey  suffered  such  things.  I  tell  you  nay,  ...  or  those 
eighteen  upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell,  think  you  that  they  xoere  sinners 
above  all  men  that  dwelt  at  Jerusalem  ?     Hell  you  nay." 

This  opinion  destroys  the  doctrine  of  a  future  judgment.  It  tells  the  man 
who  is  robust,  healthy  and  prosperous,  that  he  has  broken  no  law,  whatever 
his  conscience  may  tell  him  to  the  contrary.  It  tells  the  weak,  the  diseased, 
and  the  poor  that  their  evils  are  punishments,  by  them  justly  deserved.  To 
the  one  class,  then,  it  puts  an  end  to  mercy  and  compassion  ;  in  the  other, 
to  any  belief  in  God's  mercy  and  his  justice.  It  destroys  the  idea  that  this 
world  is  a  state  of  trial,  and  that  pain  may,  in  God's  wisdom,  have  many 
other  reasons  besides  punishment, — be  a  moral  guide,  a  preventive  of  greater 
evil ;  nay,  often  a  positive  and  actual  good.  Lastly,  it  is  at  variance  with  the 
phenomena  of  hereditary  disease,  as  well  as  with  the  facts  of  that  which  or- 
dinary men  call  accident,  and  the  Christian  calls  Providence. 

I  would  ask  my  reader,  as  an  Ethical  exercise,  to  investigate  the  consequences 
of  this  opinion,  and  he  shall  find  them  as  I  have  said,  most  pernicious  to  all 
moral  action,  and  subversive  of  all  right  ideas  of  God,  and  of  the  uses  to  us 
of  the  outward  world. 

And  if  he  be  a  parent,  I  would,  for  the  sake  of  his  children,  warn  him 
against  such  books  as  "  Combe's  Constitution  of  Man,"  whereof  this  notion 
is  the  staple.  For  the  idea,  as  he  will  see  on  further  thought,  by  tracing  out 
its  extreme  consequence,  puts  God,  "  the  Personal  and  Ever-present,  Omnis- 
cient, and  Omnipotent,  Governing  Being,"  out  of  the  world,  by  substituting 
for  Him  an  "  All-sufiBcing,  Physical  Law."  It  is  therefore  nothing  in  spirit, 
but  a  coarse  Physical  and  Natural  Deism. 

One  thing  more  I  would  add  as  not  unimportant.  This  idea,  in  another 
shape,  "  that  sin  has  always  attached  it  as  a  natural  consequence,  a  Temporal 
Penalty  of  bodily  pain," — a  belief  as  false  and  as  easily  refuted, — is  a  pecu- 
liarly Roman  Catholic  doctrine,  and  I«es  at  the  very  root  of  their  doctrine  of 
Purgatory,  and  of  their  horrible  self-torturing  penances.  For  this,  see  that 
most  able  work,  "  Palmer's  Letters  on  Romanism." 

So  do  extremes  meet.  The  Romanist  and  the  Deist  unite  in  preaching  the 
same  false  doctrine,  of  the  natural  and  unavoidable  connection  of  sin  with 
bodily  pain. 


104  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

And  upon  examination,  we  shall  find  that  these  two  phrases  have 
done  an  immense  deal  of  harm  to  religion ;  for  if  Conscience  be, 
in  this  world,  a  judge,  in  the  true  and  real  sense,  and  truly  and 
really  the  pain  that  comes  from  Conscience  be  a  punishment  in- 
flicted by  it ;  then,  by  a  natural  and  unavoidable  logic,  the  truth 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  true  agent  in  the  Conscience,  combined 
with  these  false  notions,  "  that  conscience  is  a  real  judge,"  inflict- 
ing "real  punishment,"  at  once  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Judgment  is  already  past, — an  heresy,  stamped  by  St.  Paul  as 
ensuring  condemnation,  and  in  these  days,  because  these  false 
phrases,  very  frequent  indeed. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  deficiencies  of  the  Conscience  and  its  laws  deduced  from  its  nature. — The 
deficiencies  of  Conscience, — the  yarious  kinds  classified  and  enumerated. — 
Its  Laws  are  three  :  First,  of  Obedience, — ^Examination  of  this  law, — Prac- 
tical inferences  from  this  law. — 2d  Law  of  Conscience,  Permanence. 
Its  nature  and  efiects. — By  means  of  this  second  law  all  passions  can  be 
resisted,  not  otherwise. — Reason  of  sudden  and  unexpected  moral  falls. — 
Besetting  sins,  or  obstacles  to  moral  progress. — 3d  Law  of  Conscience, 
The  law  of  Subordination  ;  that  is,  "  while  it  rules  us,  itself  must  be  ruled." 
The  rule  of  Conscience  is  the  law  of  God. — Evils  that  arise  from  ignorance 
of  this  law. — Morality  is  eternal  and  immutable. — Scruples  of  Conscience. 
Explanation  of  their  nature,  and  how  to  treat  them. 

It  is  our  object  now,  after  that  which  we  have  said  in  the  pre- 
vious chapters  upon  the  nature  of  the  Conscience,  to  consider  the 
two  parts  that  remain  toward  the  completion  of  the  subject :  the 
deficiencies  of  the  Conscience  first ;  and  secondly,  the  rules  by 
which  we  shall  be  able  to  remedy  those  deficiencies,  and  to  bring 
it  to  perfectness  of  action. 

I^ow,  upon  the  subject  of  its  deficiency,  we  have  already  in  our 
description  of  the  nature  and  faculties  of  Conscience,  shown  that 
it  consists  of  two  parts,  the  first  of  which  is  the  voice  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  speaking  to  us ;  the  second,  the  natural  faculty  in 
us  whereby  we  listen  to  that  voice.  Hence  does  it  follow,  as  a 
necessary  consequence,  that  all  deficiencies  are  in  the  natural 
faculty, — ^that  is,  in  the  man.     Hence  the  moral  cultivation  of  the 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  105 

faculty  in  us,  is  the  remedy  for  deficiencies ;  for  in  tliis  only  it  is 
that  the  deficiency  can  exist.  This  we  can  easily  see  is  a  neces- 
sary and  absolute  deduction  of  the  Science  of  Morals. 

Again,  there  is  another  deduction,  as  necessary  to  be  made. 
When  we  look  at  the  bodily  organs  and  their  deficiencies,  we  see  at 
once  two  things.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  organization 
visible  and  tangible,  and  as  such  formed  and  purposed  for  a  cer- 
tain function ;  in  the  second  place,  there  is  the  function  itself. 
The  organization  is  the  means  towards  effecting  that  end,  and  the 
function  Is  the  end.  Now  in  judging  of  bodily  organs,  the  means 
being  visible  and  tangible,  we  are  judges  of  the  means  to  the  end ; 
as  for  instance,  of  the  arm,  we  know  all  its  functions,  such  as 
reaching,  pushing,  holding,  and  so  forth,  and  have  in  our  mind  a 
full  notion  of  all.  And  more  than  that,  we  have  all  the  machinery 
for  those  functions  before  our  eyes,  and  can  judge  of  the  suitable- 
ness of  it  towards  the  end.  We  can  say,  because  such  and  such  a 
bone,  muscle,  or  nerve  is  deficient,  diseased,  or  inadequate,  there- 
fore such  and  such  a  function  of  the  organ  is  unfulfilled.  But 
with  regard  to  faculties,  moral  or  mental,  the  function  is  actually 
the  only  thing  that  we  knoio  ;  the  organization  by  which  that  par- 
ticular faculty  works,  of  that  we  know  nothing. 

And,  therefore,  from  this  at  once  we  come  to  a  conclusion  of 
very  great  value,  as  a  means  of  limiting  our  researches, — that  is, 
that  it  is  vain  to  attempt  to  penetrate  into  mental  or  moral  organ- 
ization, for  it  cannot  be  known  ;  or  in  some  fancied  organization, 
supplied  by  own  over-daring,  to  place  the  cause  of  deficiencies. 

To  illustrate  this,  we  shall  take  the  memory ;  "  the  memory  is 
the  faculty  that  remembers  ;"  we  know  not  the  organization  of  it 
as  a  faculty, — that  is,  the  means  by  which  remembrance  is  brought 
about.  We  only  know  its  function^  "  that  it  remembers."  Hence 
that  "memory"  shall  be  good  that  "remembers  well," — that  re- 
members firmly,  and  readily,  and  fully,  and  particularly,  and  so 
forth:  everything  that  can  come  under  the  word  "remember," 
and  the  word  "well;"  that  shall  be  a  bad  "memory,"  whose  func- 
tion of  remembrance  is  characterized  by  all  those  defects  which 
come  under  the  word  badly.  It  is  not  powers  and  organizationa 
that  we  know,  but  functions.* 

*  In  Mathematics,  the  "  function "  of  a  quantity  is  always  expressed  in 
**  tenns  of  that  quantity,"  2x,  x^,  x',  d.x,  all  these  are  functions  of  x,  the 

14 


106  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

To  apply  the  principle,  then,  the  deficiencies  of  the  Conscience, 
arc  those  by  which  it  does  not  fulfil  the  functions  that  belong 
to  the  Conscience  ;  and  if  we  have  fully  and  truly  described  its 
functions  in  the  previous  chapter,  the  perfect  Conscience  shall  be 
that  which  efi'ects  these  functions  perfectly,  the  imperfect  Con- 
science that  which  eifects  them  imperfectly.  A  Conscience,  then, 
that  Checks  or  Withholds  adequately  wlk3n  evil  approaches,  that 
Records,  and,  according  to  its  law,  re-presents  to  the  man  the  evil 
done,  and  that  Prophesies  of  a  future  recompense  in  the  same 
measure,  that  shall  be  a  good  Conscience.  A  Conscience  whose 
efiects  are  less  than  this,  is  not  a  good  Conscience,  but  an  imper- 
fect one. 

Having  thus  stated  wherein  the  deficiencies  of  Conscience  are 
to  be  found,  it  now  remains  for  us  to  enter  upon  the  consideration 
of  them  under  these  limitations. 

The  Conscience,  then,  may  be  considered  as  faulty  by  excess,  or 
as  faulty  by  deficiency  in  reference  to  any  of  its  three  divisions  of 
function.  .rtm-jayi 

That  Conscience,  for  instance,  that  does  not  warn  against  that 
which  is  actually  evil,  is  in  one  degree  a  thoughtless  Conscience ; 
in  a  higher,  a  careless  Conscience ;  higher  still,  a  hardened  Con- 
science ;  yet  higher,  a  callous  Conscience ;  and,  highest  of  all,  a 
^^  seared"  or  ^^  dead"  Conscience, — all  these  terms  implying  defi- 
ciency in  the  sensibility  of  the  faculty  to  that  which  is  actually 
evil. 

And  then,  again,  an  over  sensibility,  tending  to  present  to  us 
as  evil  that  which  is  not  actually  evil,  a  tendency  which  any  one 
that  considers  the  analogy  to  the  eye  or  the  ear  can  at  once  com- 
prehend, is  represented  to  us  as  a  "weak"  Conscience,  a  "  scrupu- 
lous" Conscience,  or  a  "sore"  Conscience.  The  true  Withholding 
Conscience  being  that  which  is  faulty  by  neither  deficiency  or 
excess,  and  therefore  is  called  the  "swre"  or  ^^ perfect"  Conscience. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  second  part  of  the  Conscience,  its  defi- 
ciencies are  manifestly  in  reference  to  the  power  of  recording  or 
re-presenting,  first,  faults  of  deficiency  or  faults  of  superabundance, 

original  quantity  x,  is  seen  in  them  all.  So  in  the  example  in  the  text  of 
"  Good  memory,"  "  bad  memory,"  "  feeble  memory,"  all  the  phrases  vre  use 
bring  in  and  employ  the  word  "  memory,"  they  are  "  functions  "  of  that  un- 
known quantity.  The  nature  and  the  machinery  of  the  faculty  is  unknown 
as  far  as  they  are  concerned. 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  107 

wherein  that  which  is  evil,  when  done,  is  not  represented  to  our 
minds  as  evil,  that  is,  the  record  written  is  not  brought  out,  and 
that  which  is  not  evil  is  represented  as  such.  These  cases  are 
denoted  by  the  same  terms  as  we  have  noted  in  the  first. 

But  more  than  this,  there  is  a  peculiar  fault  belonging  to  the 
second  kind  by  its  very  nature,  when  the  actions  recorded  and 
re-presented  have  the  peculiar  note  that  we  call  "  Stain"  attached 
to  them  ;  so  that  they  shall  be  recorded  with  this  note,  and  when 
brought  up  again  to  the  recollection  shall  have  it  associated  with 
them,  and  shall  rouse  the  feeling  of  "  Shame"  in  the  mind. 

This  Conscience,  in  reference  to  that  "  Stain,"  is  called  a  "foul," 
a  "polluted,"  or  a  "defiled"  Conscience;  and  the  opposite,  that 
in  which  the  record  is  in  a  more  or  less  degree  without  "  Stain,"  a 
"pure,"  or  "clean,"  or  "undefiled"  Conscience. 

Again,  with  reference  to  the  Prophetic  Conscience,  the  same 
remarks  that  were  made  with  reference  to  the  second  function  of 
the  faculty  may  be  made  with  regard  to  it  as  to  deficiency  or 
excess.  But  with  reference  to  its  operation,  as  it  presents  actions 
in  respect  to  the  future,  and  in  connection  with  liability  to  punish- 
ment, that  is,  as  we  have  established  it,  "  Cfuilt,"  in  reference  to 
this,  the  Conscience,  in  which,  when  acts  donS^and  past  are  pre- 
sented to  the  mind  in  connexion  with  this  liability,  is  called  "  a 
guilty  Conscience ;"  and  that  in  a  degree  more  or  less  according 
to  the  number  and  flagrancy  of  the  acts :  and  a  Conscience  the 
opposite  is  called  an  "  innocent"  Conscience. 

Thus  does  it  appear  that  with  regard  to  the  function,  the  worst 
of  all  kinds  of  Conscience  is  that  which  is  "insensible,"  or  has 
lost  its  warning  power,  commonly  called  a  "  seared"  or  "  dead" 
Conscience ;  that  to  which  evil  is  good  and  good  evil,  the  discrimi- 
nating power  being  wholly  lost. 

With  regard  to  the  effect — the  Conscience  that  is  "  foul"  or 
defiled,  and  that  which  is  "guilty"  or  covered  with  "  Guilt,"  this 
is  the  worst  of  all. 

Here  comes  up  a  question  which  once  was  one  very  much  de- 
bated, and  still  is  in  some  measure  interesting :  "  Can  there  be 
naturally  such  a  thing  as  that  one  should  be  born  without  a  Con- 
science ?"  This  question  we  believe  we  have  in  a  degree  forestalled, 
and  as  it  wer^  given  our  readers  the  means  of  deciding  it ;  we 
therefore  merely  indicate  it,  and  so  pass  on. 

The  best,  then,  of  all  shall  be  that  Conscience  which  in  refer- 


108  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

ence  to  these  functions,  is  tender,  in  reference  to  the  Recording 
faculty,  is  pure,  or  free  from  Stain,  to  the  Prophetic  part,  is  •"  in- 
nocent," or  free  from  Guilt. 

And  between  these  two  extremes  there  are  various  degrees,  all 
of  which  are  combinations  of  these  elements,  and  therefore 
enumerated  "in  posse"  by  the  enumeration  of  them. 

And  also  there  is  a  multitude  of  practical  questions,  of  the  most 
interesting  kind,  which  it  is  enough  to  have  indicated,  as  the  ex- 
amination of  them  in  detail  is  to  our  object,  which  is  a  "  system" 
of  Moral  Philosophy,  unnecessary.  We  shall,  therefore,  in  the 
mode  of  all  proper  science,  leave  the  multitude  of  problems  de- 
ducible  from  our  main  principles,  to  be  as  exercises  for  the  student 
in  the  application  of  these  principles,  and  content  ourselves  with 
those  that  are  leading  and  absolutely  necessary. 

The  next  subject,  therefore,  that  will  most  naturally  engage  our 
attention  is  the  question,  "  How  and  by  what  means  we  are  to  so 
regulate  the  Conscience  that  it  shall  be  for  the  individual  man  in 
the  best  possible  condition  that  it  can  be  in  ;  that  is,  what  means 
shall  we  pursue,  if  we  would  derive  all  the  advantages  from  the 
power  and  faculty  of  Conscience,  which  God  intended  that  we 
should  derive  ?"  ThiiiB,  manifestly,  is  a  question  of  the  most  serious 
importance,  for  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  majority  of  mankind, 
so  far  from  subordinating  the  action  of  their  passions  and  appetites 
to  any  rule  or  to  any  governance,  are  actually  led  by  these  appe- 
tites. And  some  are  actually  so  audacious  as  to  set  forth  a  philo- 
sophy that  says,  "  that  an  appetite,  a  passion,  a  desire  craves 
gratification,  is  a  sign  that  it  should  be  gratified  to  the  fullest 
extent !  and  that  the  outward  frame  of  Society  imposes  some 
restraint,  indicates  that  that  frame-work  is  wholly  wrong !  and 
must  make  way  for  a  new  one,  all  whose  end  and  rule  shall  be, 
*  that  all  appetites,  all  passions,  all  desires  shall  be  gratified  to  the 
utmost  of  their  demands  !'  "  a  horrid  and  brutal  Philosophy,  that 
gives  liberty  to  all  vice,  and  destroys  the  very  basis  of  all  Mo- 
rality. 

In  view  of  this  fact,  I  think  it  is  of  no  small  importance  to 
vindicate  the  Supremacy  of  the  "  governing"  or  "  moral"  powers, 
and  to  point  out  to  the  individual  man,  who  is  desirous  to  live 
according  to  the  law  of  God,  the  means  whereby  he  shall  be 
enabled  to  give  to  the  first  of  these  governing  powers,  the  Con- 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  109 

cience,  its  due  perfection,  that  is,  the  "  supremacy"  which  it 
thould  possess  over  the  rest  of  our  nature. 

Now  the  reader,  on  looking  back  to  Chapter  VI.  of  Book  I.,  will 
find  there  laid  down,  that  there  are  Governing  Faculties  whose 
office,  by  their  very  position,  is  that  they  are  to  govern,  and  that 
the  Conscience  is  one  of  them.  Again :  he  will  find  that  of  these 
governing  faculties  there  are  laws,  in  consequence  of  the  obedience 
to  which  and  by  which,  from  their  very  nature,  they  attain  and 
uphold  their  "  supremacy"  :  guided,  then,  by  those  rules,  they 
uphold  their  station;  abandoning  these,  the  laws  of  their  being  as 
Governing  faculties,  they  abandon  their  sway. 

Their  laws,  as  governing  faculties  are,  first,  that  they  must 
govern.  Secondly,  that  they  must  govern  always.  Thirdly,  that 
they  must  govern  by  a  law  not  by  themselves.  He,  then,  that 
would  have  a  Conscience  pure  and  perfect,  must  apply  these  rules 
unto  its  action  upon  his  nature,  and  by  these  rules,  and  by  these 
alone,  can  it  attain  to  the  completeness  that  it  is  by  God  intended 
to  possess,  and  is  by  its  nature  capable  of  having.  Let  us  apply 
these  rules. 

The  first  says,  that  unto  a  perfect  Conscience  it  is  necessary 
that  it  should  govern;  that  is,  that  no  Conscience  is  a  "sui-e" 
guide,  or  can  be  appealed  to  as  such,  or  trusted  in,  save  and  ex- 
cept that  as  a  principle  of  life  it  he  made  supreme  hy  the  man. 

This  may  be  seen  to  be  so  from  the  very  nature  of  man's  consti- 
tution in  even  his  bodily  faculties.  When  extreme  sensibilities 
are  given  against  any  emotion  or  sensation  that  is  injurious,  if 
that  emotion  or  sensation  be  pressed  upon  the  feeling,  then  the 
sensibility  becomes  sometimes  almost  wholly  dead,  so  as  to  cease 
being  any  guard  or  protection.  So  would  it  seem  that  the  faculty 
that  warns  against  evil,  by  its  warnings  being  neglected,  loses  its 
power  altogether,  and  resigns  its  seat  to  inferior  competitors. 

This  analogy  from  bodily  faculties  would  be  of  itself  sufficient 
to  illustrate,  and  to  rest  our  proof  upon,  backed,  as  it  is,  by  the 
experience  of  the  whole  world,  and  of  all  both  heathen  and 
Christian  moralists  ;  for  who  is  there  who  does .  know  how  easily 
one  step  downward  from  the  straight  course  of  steady  and  con- 
scientious action,  will  end  in  plunging  the  man  in  guilt,  of  which 
a  little  before  he  deemed  himself  wholly  incapable  ?  Who  does  not 
know  what  a  fatal  fascination  evil  once  familiarized  to  us  has  ? 
There  would  be  proof  enough  in  defence  of  the  assertion  that  we 


11(>  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

have  made,  that  Conscience  as  a  principle  must  govern  if  we 
would  have  it  perfect,  as  showing  that  once  deprived  of  its  posi- 
tion it  loses,  as  it  were,  its  very  nature,  and  ceases  to  be  that 
which  it  was  ;  for  then  becoming  merely  a  principle  among  other 
principles,  it  loses  its  nature,  and  acts  only  as  the  subordinate 
principles  do,  at  intervals,  and  neither  constantly  nor  reliably. 

And  when  we  consider  the  universal  persuasion  with  regard  to 
it,  we  find  that  this  which  I  have  called  the  first  law  of  Conscience, 
is,  under  various  forms  and  shapes,  the  solid  conviction  and  belief 
of  all  men  as  to  its  action.  They  represent  it  as  a  light  which  we 
are  to  follow — dim  and  indistinct  at  first,  but  which,  if  we  pursue 
it  steadily,  becomes  brighter  and  yet  more  bright.  Again  :  they 
paint  man  as  in  darkness,  gloom  and  storm,  in  the  midst  of  a  de- 
sert by  night,  needing  guidance ;  and  Conscience  as  the  minutest 
and  remotest  speck  of  light,  appearing  upon  the  verge  of  the  hori- 
zon, yet  to  be  followed  because  it  is  light,  and  the  only  light. 

Here,  then,  in  this  comparison,  which  is  a  familiar  one  to  all 
nations,  is  exemplified  its  increased  value  as  a  rule,  as  depending 
upon  our  constancy  and  perseverance  in  following  its  guidance. 
The  brightness  is  considered  to  be  always  growing  as  long  as  we 
press  onward,  and  never  to  decay  while  our  face  is  turned  towards 
it  and  our  footsteps  are  pursuing  it. 

We  have  given  this  example,  and  shall  omit  any  further  enumera- 
tion of  instances.  Sufl&ce  it  to  say,  that  in  all  those  metaphors 
which  men  have  employed  to  designate  this  faculty,  or  to  denote 
the  mode  of  its  operation,  the  conviction  of  the  same  law  is  uni- 
versally to  be  discerned,  a  hint  which,  while  it  may  set  the  student 
upon  a  more  extended  examination  of  this  particular  point,  may 
serve  to  excuse  our  further  consideration  of  it.  But,  however,  as 
an  additional  support  of  the  doctrine  implied  in  these  illustrations, 
we  beg  to  refer  our  readers  forwards  to  our  notice  of  the  effect  of 
Habit  upon  the  Moral  Nature,*  so  far  as  "active"  and  "passive 
habit"  are  concerned,  by  which  he  shall  find  the  doctrine  of  the 
foregoing  paragraphs  most  strongly  supported.  And  we  shall  now 
go  forward  to  the  support  of  our  first  law  from  other  and  more 
weighty  considerations. 

He  that  looks  to  the  preceding  chapters  shall  see  that  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Conscience  is  two-fold ;  of  a  faculty  in  us,  and 

*  Book  IV.  Chap.  3. 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  Ill 

working  upon  us  through  that  faculty,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
Now  the  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  as  to  Him  is,  that  his  influence 
upon  the  spirit  of  man  is  given  in  proportion,  not  capriciously,  but 
after  a  certain  proportion,  though  what  the  elements  of  it  are  we 
cannot  precisely  say,  it  not  having  been  revealed.  But  this  is 
clearly  said,  that  it  is  "gra^e  for  grace," — Grace  as  a  reward  for 
grace  well  employed,  and  as  a  means  of  obtaining  more  Grace.* 
Here,  then,  in  this  fact  we  find  the  ultimate  reason  of  this  first 
law,  that  except  we  are  as  a  matter  of  principle  governed  by  Con- 
science, its  action  is  incomplete,  for  its  completeness  is  in  constant 
progression,  depending  for  light  and  clearness  upon  the  continual 
gift  of  the  Spirit,  in  reward  for  the  continual  reception  and  use  of 
that  gift. 

And  adding  this  fact  to  those  others  previously  noticed,  f  the 
conclusion,  as  a  matter  both  of  moral  science  and  inward  convic- 
tion, shall  be  established,  that  if  we  would  have  Conscience  a  sure 
and  trustworthy  guide,  then,  as  a  fixed  principle  of  action,  we 
must  obey  it.  It  must  rule,  and  no  passion,  nor  desire,  nor  appe- 
tite within  us,  and  without  us  no  object  towards  which  they  may 
lead  us  must  be  sought  or  pursued,  if  doing  so  will  contravene  our 
Conscience  or  lead  us  into  evil  in  the  slightest  degree. 

This  is  the  first  law  of  the  perfection  and  the  governance  of  Con- 
science, and  the  man  that  takes  it  to  himself,  however  blasted  in 
character,  and  condemned  by  the  unanimous  verdict  of  his  fellows 
he  may  be  ;  he  that  shall  take,  even  in  the  depths  of  his  degrada- 
tion, this  for  his  guide  as  a  ruling  principle,  he  shall  arise  out  of 
the  deepest  pit,  he  shall  be  lifted  up  from  his  abasement,  he  shall 
become  a  man  standing  upright  in  the  dignity  of  manhood. 

Let  him  rely  upon  it,  "/or  a  man  who  will  do  so,  how  deep  soever 


*  This,  I  believe,  gives  the  full  sense  of  the  Greek  idiom  "  grace  for  grace," 
and  this  only  adequately  expresses  it. 

t  The  fact,  that  is,  of  man's  moral  inability,  as  he  is  by  himself  apart  from 
the  influences  of  Grace  ;  the  fact  that  the  Spirit  is  Jehovah  and  infallible  ;  that 
his  Grace  comes  frtt  unto  us  and  awakens  us ;  that  the  dictates  of  conscience, 
assigning  no  reason  for  themselves,  are  yet  confirmed  by  all  after  experience  ; 
that  they  are  authoritative,  it  is  our  privilege  and  duty  to  obey.  All  these 
facts  are  those  referred  to  in  the  text.  They  all,  together  with  this  Law  of 
Grace,  that  is  combined  with  it,  declare  and  prove  that  the  power  of  the  faculty 
depends  upon  "  supremacy,"  that  made  "subordinate,"  it  loses  its  natural  and 
normal  influence. 


112  CHRISTIAN   SCIEXCE. 

Tie  may  he  sunk,  there  is  all  hope  and  no  fear."  Tliis  declaration, 
here  written  with  pen  and  ink,  is  .written  upon  the  hearts  of  all  in 
the  records  of  Providence,  nay,  upon  the  Very  Throne  of  God ;  for 
the  Holy  Spirit,  co-essential  with  the  Father,  whose  voice  the 
»  Conscience  is,  has  made  it  a  first  principle,  and  a  primal  truth  in 
the  self-experience  of  all :  and  to  all  men  the  course  of  the  outward 
world,  arrayed  and  set  forth  as  it  is  by  Almighty  power  and  Om- 
niscient wisdom,  echoes  back  and  reasserts  that  internal  convic- 
tion. There  is  none  to  whom  the  light  does  not  appear,  faint  as 
it  may  be  through  their  own  fault,  but  still  to  all,  while  they  are 
alive  upon  the  earth,  it  appears  and  invites  to  follow ;  and  therefore 
to  all  men,  even  to  the  vilest  and  worst,  there  is  hope^  all  hope,  if 
they  will  only  follow  it. 

And  to  those  most  elevated  in  their  moral  qualifications,  to 
them,  by  the  very  same  reason,  all  fear,  if  they  abandon  this 
supreme  guide  and  ruling  power,  and  permit  themselves  to  be  ruled 
and  governed  by  anything  else  than  this. 

It  is  a  cheap  Morality  to  discourse  of  virtues  and  vices,  to 
harangue  against  this  vice  and  that  vice,  to  give  set  and  common- 
place argument  against  the  love  of  money,  against  luxury,  and 
against  licentiousness :  but  the  plain  truth  is,  that  these  are  but 
the  occasions  and  external  causes  of  falling,  as  the  storm  is  to  the 
tree  that  is  rotten  at  the  root ;  for  no  external  fall  has  there  been 
into  open  and  flagrant  guilt,  but  first  there  was  an  internal  fall,  a 
dethronement  of  the  Moral  Power  from  its  seat  of  guidance :  and 
where  this  once  has  taken  place,  then  external  circumstances  may, 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  keep  the  man  from  the  abyss  of  vice,  but  he 
has  left  the  only  moral  ground,  and  whatever  good  he  may  do, 
incidentally,  yet  by  his  very  position,  as  one  closing  his  eyes  upon 
the  light  that  is  given  to  guide  him,  and  renouncing  its  guidance, 
he  is  ready  for  the  deepest  plunge  into  the  foulest  degradation. 

Such  is  the  first  law  of  Conscience,  the  law  of  "  Obedience,"  the 
law  that  it  must  govern  and  we  obey — govern  supremely,  obey 
entirely. 

And  this  matter  of  the  governance  of  Conscience,  its  entire  and 
absolute  governance,  this  which  to  men  in  ordinary  may  seem  so 
exceedingly  difficult,  this  depends  not  upon  the  agony  of  a  sudden 
effort,  putting  forth  unusual  strength  upon  emergency,  but  upon 
that  second  rule  of  "Permanence,"  so  that  one  law,  in  som^ 
measure,  derives  its  strength  from  the  other.    He  whose  Conscience 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  113 

governs  permanently,  by  that  very  fact  attains  the  habit  that  it 
should  govern  supremely.  The  permanent  and  constant  habit,  that 
is,  of  referring  all  things  to  Conscience,  and  as  a  matter  of  fixed 
and  steady  principle  bowing  to  its  decision  and  acknowledging  its 
»**  supremacy,"  this  shall  give,  even  to  the  weakest  in  mind,  the 
power  of  resisting  the  most  exceeding  temptations. 

Nor  does  this  depend  upon  the  force  of  Habit  as  its  peculiar 
cause,  though  this,  too,  will  confirm  the  power,  so  much  as  upon  a 
vital  and  real  distinction  between  the  nature  of  that  power  which 
the  "governing"  faculties  have,  and  that  which  the  "passions" 
have,  that  the  ^^  power  of  the  ^governing'  faculties  is  in  their  con- 
stancy of  action,  and  the  power  of  ^  passion'  in  its  concentration  to 
a  small  interval  of  time."  This,  we  have  already  remarked,  comes 
from  their  function  as  "governing,"  which  implies  action  constant, 
not  intermitted.  And  he  that  shall  consider  the  faculty  of  Con- 
science with  care,  shall  find  that  it  is  so  with  it. 

To  those,  then,  who  may  not,  at  first  sight,  consider  the  asser- 
tion* of  our  last  chapter  as  credible,  to  them  we  say,  let  them, 
instead  of  looking  at  vice  in  the  mere  outside  point  of  view,  in 
reference  to  injury  done  as  to  money,  position,  character,  and  so 
forth :  and  thus,  when  they  are  hurried  away  by  that  evil  they 
are  hitherto  prone  to  be  conquered  by,  at  that  moment  calling  up 
the  moral  powers  in  arms  against  it,  so  that  the  strife  is,  for  the 
moment,  to  place  the  moral  powers  to  war  against  the  temptation ; 
let  them  observe  the  nature  of  the  two  as  difierent  powers,  and 
give  the  moral  powers  a  "governing"  influence,  one  that  always 
and  in  everything  reigns ;  and  because  of  this,  in  the  one  thing 
wherein  is  their  danger,  it  shall  rule  the  wildest  assaults  of  "pas- 
sion" within  and  temptation  without. 

He  that  does  not  cheat  from  the  motive  only  that  "  honesty  is 
the  best  of  policy,"  who  does  not  lie  from  the  sole  motive  that  such 
a  character  would  ruin  his  trade,  who  commits  no  adultery  from 
the  mere  fear  of  the  law  and  the  verdict  of  a  jury;  this  man  may 
be  counted  a  good  moral  man  in  the  ordinary  outside  acceptation 
of  the  word,  even  at  the  very  time  when  inwardly,  in  his  own 
heart,  he  knows  that  he  would  do  all  these  things  but  for  the  out- 

*  The  assertion,  namely,  that  in  any  human  being,  however  weak  his 
moral  faculty  may  be  by  nature,  and  however  violent  the  force  of  passions, 
the  moral  power  is  able,  by  nature,  to  check  and  subdue  any  passion  what- 
soever. 

16 


114  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

■ward  penalty.  And  his  neighbors  and  himself  may  wonder  why 
drunkenness  is  such  a  temptation  to  him,  or  any  other  of  the 
twenty  vices  we  may  mention,  and  may  laugh  us  to  scorn  when  we 
say  that  even  that  man's  moral  power  is  able  to  conquer  it ;  when 
the  fact  of  the  matter  is,  that  the  man  is  hardly  a  moral  being  at 
all.  His  Conscience  never  acts  efficiently  at  all,  for  it  is  never 
obeyed  systematically. 

To  such  a  man,  we  say,  let  your  Conscience  act, — ^let  it  act 
always  and  in  everything,  and  as  a  matter  of  principle;  and  soon 
you  will  find,  that  in  this  law  of  action,  it  has  power  to  overcome 
any  gust  of  temptation  and  hold  it  under. 

At  the  same  time,  we  must  acknowledge  that  so  far  as  we  have 
hitherto  gone,  these  two  rules  of  Conscience,  as  to  its  action,  are 
more  ready  to  uphold  and  secure  its  mastery,  when  it  has  been 
obtained,  than  to  obtain  it  by  themselves.  Still,  the  consideration 
of  them  is  such,  as  we  conceive,  to  cast  much  light  and  hope  upon 
the  course  of  man. . 

As  depending  upon  this  law  of  "permanence,"  we  will  note  one 
other  fact,  which  is  sufficiently  strange.  It  often  happens  that  to 
the  individual  man  there  is  some  little  thing  that  may  be  wrong  to 
him,  not  wrong  in  itself,  but  wrong  to  him, — ^relatively  wrong 
that  is.  And  this  little  matter, — it  may  be  the  very  least  thing  and 
the  most  unimportant  in  the  world,  in  which  none  of  his  friends 
see  any  wrong,  but  which  is  wrong  to  him — this  a  man  shall  often 
do,  through  the  force  of  habit,  with  the  feeling  full  in  his  own 
mind  that  it  is  wrong. 

And  so  doing,  he  breaks  the  second  law  of  Conscience,  and 
shall  make  no  progress  whatsoever.  All  the  good  in  greater  things 
that  is  done,  is  then  felt  to  be  good,  but  is  not  to  him  a  means  of 
moral  progress.  When  the  Conscience  declares  against  any  act, 
how  small  soever  it  may  be,  and  in  full  view  of  its  being  wrong 
that  act  is  done  again,  then  there  is  no  moral  progress,  no  bring- 
ing to  perfection  of  the  power  of  Conscience.  It  is  as  the  small 
impediment  that  hinders  the  starting  into  motion  of  a  body,  which, 
were  the  body  in  motion,  would  be  crushed  into  dust  by  a  thou- 
sandth part  of  the  power  that  it  impedes.  Small  things,  then,  as 
well  as  great,  there  are  to  be  brought  under  the  law  to  which  I 
allude. 

But  to  conclude  our  examination,  the  immediate  eflfects  of  this 
law  of  "permanence,"  observed  as  a  principle  of  life,  axe  very  ex- 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  US 

ti*aordinary  to  the  world,  and  sometimes  even  to  the  persons  con- 
cerned very  astounding.  In  the  first  place,  the  individual  who 
has  been  as  I  have  described  the  man  a  little  above,  with  these 
acts  that  properly  and  truly  should  have  been  founded  upon  Con- 
science, placed  upon  the  false  basis  of  "  enlightened  selfishness," 
or  mere  "external  law,"  or  "the  custom  of  Society,"  this  man,* 
during  the  time  that  these  things  have  been  so  placed,  shall  have 
hardly  felt  the  existence  of  a  Conscience,  and  to  him  it  shall  almost 
be  a  word  without  a  meaning.*  Let  him,  then,  however  weak 
may  have  been  his  perception  originally,  however  dim  the  light, 
begin  to  act  upon  it ;  and  then,  under  the  influence  of  this  law, 
there  shall  spring  up  within  him  the  stream  of  a  new  internal  life. 
It  shall  be  as  if  a  wide  extent  of  unwholesome  marshes  were  trans- 
formed into  the  continuous  current  of  a  river.  The  principle  then 
becomes  a  living  principle  when  it  is  continuous,  and  only  then. 

It  needs  but  very  little  experience  of  men  to  see  how  few  of 
them  ever  make  Conscience  supreme.  But  few  as  these  are,  fewer 
still  are  they  who  are  always  guided,  in  reference  to  it,  by  the 
second  law,  that  of  its  "permanence." 

The  question  then  of  the  possible  perfection  of  Conscience,  this 
becomes  not  a  mere  theoretic  question  by  any  means,  but  one  en- 
tirely practical.  But  it  is  highly  probable  that  no  man  hy  nature, 
apart  from  Revelation,  has  ever  followed  his  Conscience  so  strictly 
after  these  two  laws,  as  to  perfect  it  according  to  them. 

I  do  not,  then,  suppose  that  of  natural  power  any  one  has  ever 
got  beyond  these  two  rules  of  the  Conscience  so  as  to  rise  above 
them  towards  the  third,  although  I  can  see  in  divers  even  of  the 
heathen  an  appreciation  of  them. 

But  the  third  law  I  count  to  be  the  most  important ;  this  says, 
that  "  Conscience  is  not  to  be  ruled  by  itself,  or  to  make  itself  a 
rule,  but  to  govern  ly  a  lata — itself  is  not  to  he  its  own  law." 

Now,  we  see  many  people  who  keenly  appreciate  the  first  law, 
that  "  Conscience  is  to  be  supreme"  ;  few,  indeed,  that  know  the 
value  of  the  second ;  but  in  the  most  of  even  good  men  a  complete 

*  Men,  in  such  a  case,  usually  delude  themselves  with  the  idea  that  Con- 
science is  not  a  faculty,  the  organ  and  sense  of  the  Divine  Yoice  ;  but  that 
it  is  the  mere  mental  conclusion  as  to  what  is  "  right "  or  "  wrong,"  And 
that  "  right"  and  "  wrong,"  "  good  "  and  "  evil,"  are  not  immutable  in  their 
nature,  but  depend  on  circumstances.  These  two  notions  do,  as  I  have  said 
in  the  text,  render  Conscience  "  almost  a  word  without  a  meaning." 


"116  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

ignorance  of  the  third,  and  this  is  in  so  extraordinary  a  way, 
oftentimes,  that  it  makes  men  torment  themselves  and  others  by 
the  most  fantastic  scruples.  They  feel  the  "supremacy"  of  Con- 
science as  an  authoritative  governor  over  the  man  so  strongly,  that 
its  rule  over  them  seems  to  them  to  exclude  any  supremacy  over 
it.  And  thus  the  disease  or  derangement  of  the  faculty,  which 
as  other  faculties  of  the  human  constitution  is  liable  to  disease, 
and  is  manifested  in  irregular  action,  this  disease  of  the  faculty 
shall  be  permitted  to  tyrannize  over  themselves  and  others.  There- 
fore, the  man  under  this  idea  holds  himself  bound  to  bow  down 
to  the  most  ridiculous  scruples,  and  to  compel  others  to  yield 
to  them.  All  this  from  taking  Conscience  to  be  absolutely  infal- 
lible, and  from  not  considering  its  twofold  nature. 

He,  however,  that  shall  look  at  the  nature  of  "moral  good,"  as 
having  in  itself  an  unity  and  sameness  in  all  individuals ;  at  the 
nature  and  being  of  man  in  the  world,  as  under  the  One  Lord,  and 
Father,  and  Teacher,  must  conclude  that  the  law  of  God's  good- 
ness, and  justice,  and  mercy,  in  other  words,  the  Law  of  God, 
must  be  the  Law  and  Rule  of  Conscience.  And  taking  especial 
care  to  avoid  the  common  mistake  by  which  we  attribute  "  Self- 
Will"  unto  God,  instead  of  "  Will,"  the  Will  of  God,  which  is  the 
Eternal  Law  of  his  being,  the  law  of  unchangeable  and  infinite 
goodness,  and  mercy,  and  truth,  this,  in  whatsoever  way  reached, 
if  it  be  only  reached,  is  the  Law  of  the  Conscience. 

For  we  shall  mistake,  if  we  attribute  to  God  a  Will  in  the  sense 
of  self-will,  unconnected  with  these  his  eternal  attributes,  as  if  by 
the  power  of  Will,  that  is  self-will,  he  made  "good"  "bad,"  or 
"  bad"  "  good,"  by  an  omnipotent  fiat ;  which  is  to  attribute  self- 
will  to  God,  not  Will,  is  to  make  him  deny  himself,  and  is  to 
destroy  the  nature  of  his  attributes.  Whereas,  goodness,  mercy, 
justice,  truth,  these,  as  parts  of  the  being  of  God,  are  in  their 
nature  His  nature,  and  the  law  of  its  being  and  unchangeable. 

And  the  qualities  in  us  that  herein  resemble  God,  these,  as 
qualities,  are  eternal  and  immutable  in  their  nature.  Mercy  is 
not  one  thing  in  me  and  another  in  you,  and  a  third  thing  in  a 
Hindoo  or  Negro  ;  but  is  the  same  in  all  men.  Evil  never  can  be 
good,  nor  good  evil — nor  can  one  become  the  other.  The  laws  of 
Morality  are  immutable  and  eternal. 

These  things,  then,  being  so,  it  is  manifest  that  the  Will  of  God, 
«he  law  that  is  of  His  being,  the  law  of  eternal  and  immutable 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  117 

goodness,  this  is  the  law  of  Conscience  and  by  this  it  must  be 
ruled. 

This  has  thus  been  shown  from  the  nature  of  that  with  which 
the  Conscience  has  to  deal ;  but  more  plainly  still  it  is  manifested 
from  the  nature  of  the  Conscience  itself  being  twofold,  first,  the 
voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  secondly,  the  organ  in  us  that  listens 
to  that  voice.  And  the  perfection  of  it  will  therefore  consist  in 
the  organ  perfectly  receiving  and  perfectly  transmitting  to  us  that 
voice.  Now,  the  office  of  the  Spirit,  by  the  Scripture,  is  the 
manifestation  of  the  Will  of  God,  hence  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
Conscience  its  law  is  the  Will  of  God.  And  by  whatsoever  means 
the  Will  of  God  is  manifested,  by  this  we  shall  be  able  to  test  and 
examine  the  dictates  of  our  Congcience,  and  see  that  we  are  not 
deceived  by  that  part  of  it  which  is  a  faculty  in  our  own  nature, 
and  which  as  such  is  liable  to  irregular  and  abnormal  action. 

We  can  see,  then,  that  each  man  in  measuring  the  action  of  his 
own  Conscience  over  himself,  must  measure  it  by  the  Will  of.Crod 
in  whatsoever  way  revealed,  whether  in  the  Scriptures  or  the  law 
of  Society,  or  the  law  of  man. 

This,  manifestly,  is  the  truth  of  the  case  in  reference  to  him- 
self, but  in  order  to  give  it  a  practical  tenor,  so  that  men  may  be 
able  to  apply  it,  I  would  place  it  in  this  position  :  "  When  you  are 
afflicted  with  doubts,  or  scruples,  or  questions  of  conscience ;  then 
your  own  secret  troubles  and  torments,  in  the  most  of  cases,  will 
render  you  unable  yourself  to  apply  the  law  of  G-od  as  a  rule  to 
correct  the  errors  of  your  Conscience ;  because  had  you  been  able 
and  accustomed  so  to  do,  you  would  never  have  fallen  into  this 
state." 

In  this  case  I  would  advise  you  to  consult  confidentially  persons 
whom  you  see  to  be  qualified  for  this  very  thing — those  who  can 
understand  what  scruples  are,  and  sympathize  with  the  real  pain 
that  comes  from  these  trifles — who  are  Conscientious  in  themselves, 
and  familiar  with  the  application  of  the  law  of  God  to  particular 
cases.  And  lastly,  who  are  in  the  situation  naturally  of  Judges  ; 
as  being  Parents,  so  in  the  family — or  Clergy,  so  in  the  Church — 
or  Judges,  so  in  the  State.  He  that  has  a  scruple  of  Conscience 
that  torments  him,  if  he  go  and  reveal  his  scruple,  under  the  bond 
of  confidence,  to  such  a  man  as  I  have  described,  in  the  most  of 
cases  he  shall  get  an  opinion  and  advice  that  shall  correct  his  Con- 


118  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

science  hy  the  law  of  Grod.*  And  if  this  do  not  satisfy  him,  then 
let  him  go  to  a  second  or  a  third  person  having  the  same  qualifica- 
tions, and  for  the  most  part  finding  them  to  agree,  he  shall  be  set 
entirely  at  rest. 

So  much  importance  do  I  put  upon  this,  that  I  think  that  founded 
as  the  advice  is  upon  the  very  nature  of  Conscience,  the  sugges- 
tion acted  upon  as  it  may  be  acted  upon,  may  save  persons  from 
an  immense  amount  of  secret  pain,  sufiered  in  secret,  because  of 
the  unsympathizing  nature  of  men,  and  often  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  a  morbid  and  brooding  temper,  whose  natural  issue  is 
insanity. 

This  is  all  we  have  to  say  in  reference  to  what  are  called  "  ques- 
tions" and  "  scruples  of  Conscience."  And  this  because  we  count 
a  living  adviser,  applying  the  law  of  Crod,  under  a  pledge  of  con- 
fidence, and  himself  possessed  of  a  sympathizing  tenderness  of 
*  disposition,  a  thousand  fold  preferable  to  any  system  of  rules  laid 
down  upon  paper,  and  to  be  applied  by  the  person  himself  whose 
Conscience  is  distressed.    ^ 

But  one  caution  we  add  to  the  individual :  "  If  this  free  you,  as 
most  likely  it  will,  then  delay  not  to  let  Conscience  govern  you  ; 
and  always,  and  by  a  fixed  principle  and  rule,  that  is  the  laiv  of 
Crod.  For  as  to  the  drowned,  where  the  means  have  been  em- 
ployed to  recal  them  from  the  torpor  of  death,  the  first  sensation 
is  that  of  intense  pain,  arising  not  from  disease,  "hut  from  the  fact 

*  To  the  young,  upon  these  grounds,  we  say,  that  the  one  best  adviser  in 
fiuch  a  case  is  a  pious  and  judicious  Father  or  Mother.  Here  is  natural  sym- 
pathy, here  natural  guidance,  here  confidence  of  the  purest  and  most  unself- 
ish kind.  If  evil  thoughts,  then,  enter  into  your  mind,  and  you  are  secretly 
distressed  hy  them ;  if  temptations  come  to  you  from  acquaintances,  or  school- 
mates, or  from  servants,  to  do  that  which  you  suspect  to  be  evil,  hut  are  not 
certain  of  it,  being  shaken  by  their  persuasions ;  if  you  are  internally  tried 
by  the  violence  of  evil  emotions,  such  as  "  anger,"  or  "  envy,"  or  "  malice" : 
in  any  and  all  cases  of  internal  distress,  do  not  brood  over  it  alone,  but  make 
your  Father  or  your  Mother  your  confidential  adviser.  And  in  such  a  case, 
often  in  half  an  hour,  you  shall  get  relief  from  that  which  might,  being  kept 
a  secret  in  your  own  mind,  cause  even  years  of  torment. 

And  let  parents  sympathize  with  their  children,  be  tender  with  them,  and 
be  themselves  purely  and  entirely  conscientious.  And  above  all,  let  their  chil- 
dren's confidence  he  unhrohen,  and  as  silent  as  if  it  had  never  been  spoken. 

The  neglect  of  this,  at  the  present  day,  causes  a  great  deal  of  misery,  and 
permits  a  great  deal  of  sin.  The  observance  of  it  would  nip  much  evil  in  the 
bud. 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  119 

that  life  is  again  reviving^  and  the  vital  principle  coming  again 
into  action ;  so  with  a  Conscience  which  has  not  had  its  due  su- 
fremacy,  when  it  is  roused  to  vigorous  action  from  its  insensibility ; 
these  scruples  are  at  the  first  most  frequent  and  most  painful,  and 
are  signs  of  returning  life.  But  to  the  man,  when  the  Conscience 
is  ruled  by  its  laws,  they  vanish ;  or  if  they  come  up,  are  attended 
by  no  pain,  for  at  once  he  can  decide  them. 

However,  to  resume.  The  third  rule  of  Conscience  being  that 
instead  of  being  governed  by  itself,  it  is  to  be  governed  by  a  law ; 
and  that  law  being  the  Will  of  God,  this  leads  us  at  once  to  two 
subjects  of  the  deepest  importance ;  the  first  the  adaptedness  of 
our  "nature  to  religion,"  which  in  a  difierent  way  might  be  ex- 
pressed, as  "the  connectedness  of  natural  and  revealed  religion;" 
and  the  second,  the  deficiencies  of  the  natural  Conscience,  and 
the  aid  that  it  demands  to  supply  them.  These  two  subjects,  with 
the  help  of  the  principles  established  in  this  chapter,  we  hope  to 
expound  in  the  next. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  facts  of  Conscience  render  Natural  Religion  possible — and  the  facts  of 
Revealed  Religion  perfect  Conscience. — In  whom  the  Conscience  is  perfect. 
— Conscience  cannot  pardon. — It  leads  us  towards  the  Atonement  of  Christ. 

Note  upon  the  Practical  nature  of  Justification  in  its  connection  with  the 
Conscience. 

The  questions  which  in  our  last  chapter  we  proposed,  were  the 
first  with  regard  to  what  is  called  Natural  Religion, — its  extent 
and  possibility.  The  second,  with  regard  to  the  deficiencies  of  the 
Natural  Conscience. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  first,  he  that  shall  look  upon  the  princi- 
ples we  have  established,  shall  have  very  little  difficulty.  If 
"man's  nature  be  in  itself  good,"  and  its  state  be  that  which  is 
expressed  by  the  words  fallen,  so  that  it  is  not  the  state  of  a 
beast,  a  state  of  brutal  indifierence,  unconscious  of  Good  and 
ignorant  of  God ;  if  it  be  not  a  devilish  state,  a  state  of  pure, 
unmixed  hatred  and  abhorrence,  and  utter  antagonism  to  light ; 


120  CHKISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

but  a  state  in  wliich  all  objects  sought,  are  sought  as  good.  If 
then,  our  natural  deficiency  be  that  of  insubordination  and  of 
inability  in  our  nature  to  obey  Grod's  Laws,  and  if  Evil  is  not  a 
positive  existence  in  itself,  but  truly  and  really  "the  absence  of 
Good,"  and  sin  is  not  some  mysterious  quality  having  a  sub- 
stantial reality*  in  nature,  but  is  a  trangression  of  the  Law;  if, 
moreover,  the  Law  of  God  is  revealed  as  a  law  to  man  by  Society, 
and  by  the  face  of  outward  Nature,  then  it  is  manifest  that 
Religion  is  a  possible  thing ;  nay,  that  naturally  man  is  suited  and 
adapted  to  it,  and  that  it  has  a  foundation  for  itself  in  his  Nature 
and  Position. 

But  when  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  nature  of  man, 
and  look  closely  at  the  Conscience,  then  we  find  more  clearly  and 
more  plainly  the  correspondency  between  man's  Nature  and  Re- 
ligion. We  find,  that  as  the  earth,  in  its  qualities,  considered  as 
fertile  and  capable  of  producing  crops,  answers  to  the  heat,  and 
the  light,  and  the  moisture,  and  the  air,  and  the  frost,  and  the 
snow ;  and  all  these  influences  are  external  to  the  earth,  and  yet 
these,  with  its  qualities  of  nature,  conspire  unto  fertility ;  so  it 
is  with  our  Human  nature  and  Revealed  Religion.  Between  the 
natural  facts  of  a  Conscience  understood  by  all  who  follow  it,  and 
hy  none  else,  and  the  facts  of  the  Gospel  incapable  of  being  knoivn 
save  by  Revelation,  there  is  precisely  that  relation. 

The  natural  Conscience  tells  us  that  evil  is  supremely  to  be 
avoided.  It  even  hints  to  us  its  own  two-fold  nature, — it  gives  us 
even  naturally  indistinct  notions  of  its  personality  and  its  divinity. 
It  feels  the  guilt,  and  evermore  it  leads  us  towards  the  idea  that 
this  guilt  may  be  wiped  away,  though  not  by  itself,  f  It  feels  that 
the  shame  may  be  wiped  off,  so  that  the  man  may  stand  upright. 
It  acknowledges  also  the  responsibility.  It  connects  the  deeds 
done  in  Time  with  a  result  in  Eternity, — a  judgment  before  an 
Eternal  and  Almighty  Judge,  and  the  same  one  who  has  been  to 
us  here  an  Eternal  Witness.  Of  these  things,  the  heart  of  man 
speaks  to  him  wherever  man  exists. 

Not,  I  say,  clearly  as  now,  under  the  broad  light  of  Christianity, 
but  in  that  dim,  instinctive  way  ift  which  the  root  of  the  willow 
shall  blindly,  yet  infallibly,  direct  its  course,  as  I  have  seen, 

*  "  For  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  Law."    1  John,  iii.  Chap.  4  v, 

t "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  1  John  i.  7. 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  121 

tTventy  and  tliirty  feet  tovrards  a  -well;  as  the  plant  that  has 
begun  to  germinate  shall,  on  being  removed  to  utter  darkness, 
send  forth  an  exploring  root  of  many  feet  in  the  direction  of  the 
light;  as  the  young  shoot,  planted  in  a  cleft  wherein  there  is 
only  earth  enough  for  itself  at  its  present  age,  shall,  in  its  after- 
growth, send  out  an  exploring  fibre  towards  the  deeper  earth, 
which  shall  root  itself  there,  and  ultimately  become  the  main  root. 
So  it  is  with  the  relation  of  the  natural  Conscience  to  religion, — 
it  blindly  and  ignorantly  yearns  towards  the  facts  of  religion, — ^it 
does  not  know  them.  But  it  instinctively  tends  towards  them,  so 
that  at  once,  upon  their  revelation,  nature  accepts  them  and  con- 
fesses the  facts  to  correspond  to  its  feelings,  and  acknowledges 
that  these  facts  revealed  and  applied,  then  are  that  which  brings 
itself  to  perfection. 

I  have  now  analyzed  the  Conscience  as  to  its  nature,  its  opera- 
tions, its  laws  and  sanctions.  I  have  shown  how  it  works,  and  that 
in  such  a  way,  that  I  have  no  doubt  that  each  man  who  has  thought 
upon  his  own  nature  and  striven  earnestly,  however  weakly  and 
feebly,  yet  earnestly,*  to  follow  that  light,  has  seen  that  the  repre- 
sentation is  a  true  and  correct  one  of  the  faculty  according  to  its 
workings. 

And  in  the  heathen  world,  antecedent  to  the  coming  of  our 
Lord,  when  the  only  knowledge  of  facts  they  had  was  from  the 
tradition  of  a  primitive  revelation,  I  can  show  the  same  represen- 
tation of  facts  as  to  the  Conscience ;  nay,  the  same  facts.  I  will 
not  say  that  they  were  clearly  and  distinctly  set  forth  in  order,  but 
in  a  confused  way,  as  a  stormy  sea  reflects  the  image  of  heaven, — 
in  a  dim  or  broken  way,  as  a  mirror  in  fragments  shows  the  human 
face.  But  still,  in  such  a  way,  that  to  us,  to  whom  the  facts  of 
Revelation  have  been  unveiled  by  Christ,  it  is  manifest  that  the 
corresponding  facts  concerning  the  Conscience  have  been  known 
to  them  by  nature.* 

This  may  be  seen  in  the  works  of  all  the  Greek  Philosophers 
antecedent  to  Christ ;  chiefly  in  those  of  Plato  and  Aristotle.  It 
may  be  seen,  too,  in  the  philosophy  of  the  remotest  Eastern  na- 

*  "  For  when  the  Heathen,  (Gentiles,)  which  have  not  the  iaw,  do  by  n» 
ture  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  these,  not  having  the  law,  are  a  law  unio 
themselves :  Which  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their 
conscience  also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  in  the  meanwhile  accusing 
or  else  excusing  one  another."    Bomans  ii.  14  and  15. 

16 


122  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

tions,  their  leading  doctrine  of  Pantheism,  having  for  itself  no 
other  natural  foundation  than  that  of  the  God-head  of  the  Internal 
Voice ;  and  the  same  facts,  in  the  same  way,  are  witnessed  by  all 
Heathen  nations  of  modern  times,  when  as  yet  they  have  received 
no  knowledge  from  Europeans,  but  are  fresh  from  heathenism.  Of 
this  I  could  bring  forward  the  proofs  from  the  authors,  but  I  deal 
not  in  the  affectation  of  learning.  It  suffices  me  that  these  can 
easily  be  obtained  by  my  readers  that  are  ordinarily  learned,  and 
that  those  of  them  who  are  unlearned  have  sufficient  confidence  in 
me  that  it  is  so. 

This  being  so,  the  facts  of  Conscience  that  come  up  to  all  men 
by  nature  as  enigmas  and  deep  mysteries,  these  in  Revelation 
have  revealed  truths  that  are  their  solutions,  corresponding  unto 
them  most  accurately  and  exactly.  Revelation  tells  us"  that  to 
avoid  sin  must  be  our  supreme  endeavour — a  motive  that  must  ever 
and  entirely  reign  in  us.  It  tells  us,  too,  that  no  ignorance  is  an 
excuse,  no  absence  from  the  sources  of  knowledge,  no  hiddenness 
in  the  remotest  depths  of  barbarism,  but  that  there  is  a  light  that 
shines  upon  all  wheresoever  they  may  be,  yrhose  brilliancy  and 
illuminating  power  is  measured,  not  by  rank,  or  riches,  or  station, 
or  abilities,  or  knowledge,  but  by  our  actual  zeal  in  following  it. 
It  tells  us  that  the  tb  Otlov  (the  divinity),  which  the  philosopher* 
ascribed  to  it,  and  the  Sdifjiov  (personal  deity)  of  Socrates,  and  the 
personality  which  in  universal  speech  all  men  give  it,  these  are  no 
chance  dreams  or  vague  illusions,  but  that  it  is  the  voice  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  "  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  Very  God  of  Very 
God,  of  one  Substance  with  the  Father  ;"  and  hence  that  he  speaks 
to  each  man  with  the  same  voice,  through  a  similar  faculty  and 
organ. 

And  thus  the  two  discordant  facts  of  Conscience  infallible, 
authoritative,  controlling  with  a  voice  requiring  absolute  submis- 
sion, and  Conscience  fallible,  and  weak,  and  needing  to  be  ruled, 
which  otherwise  could  not  be  made  to  agree,  are  reconciled. 

Hence,  too,  its  insight  into  Eternity,  its  dumb  speech  regarding 
the  Future,  its  prophecy  of  judgment,  its  connexion  of  Time  with 
Eternity,  all  these  are  made  clear. 

And,  finally,  its  feelings  of  Shame,  and  Stain,  and  Fear,  and 
Guilt,  and  of  Moral  Restlessness,  all  these  manifestly  have  in  the 

*  Aristotk. 


THE  CONSCIENCE.  128 

revealed  facts  of  our  Fall  in  Adam,  our  Redemption  in  Christ, 
their  due  and  only  explanation.  The  facts  of  the  Natural  Con- 
science are  only  to  he  explained  hy  the  facts  of  the  Grospel.  ^ 

Having  thus  shown  how  revealed  religion  is  related  to  natural 
religion,  in  reference  to  that  governing  faculty  that  we  have  ex- 
amined, we  shall  go  on  next  to  an  examination  of  the  deficiencies 
of  Conscience  which  prevent  its  being  a  perfect  guide  naturally. 
He  that  shall  look  to  the  illustrations  we  have  just  given,  will  see 
that  its  natural  perfection  only  is  in  this,  that  it  leads  the  man 
who  follows  it  onward,  and  gives  him  a  feeling  towards  the  facts 
that  perfect  it,  so  that  if  it  is  to  be  perfect,  it  is  so  only  in  connex- 
ion with  these/ac^8  known  and  these  facts  applied. 

So  that  the  Heathen,  or  he  who  is  left  to  the  natural  Conscience, 
feels  the  faculty  to  be  a  useful  one,  but  very  mysterious  ;  he,  again, 
who  knows  the  facts  of  Revelation,  can  explain  a  great  many 
things  to  the  other  deeply  mysterious  ;  but  that  man  only  to  whom 
the  facts  are  applied,  "  who  is  born  of  the  Spirit,"  to  him  the  Con- 
science has  obtained  its  due  perfection. 

That  is  to  say,  the  man  "  who  is  born  of  the  Spirit,"  he  who 
being  so  by  God's  grace  then  governs  himself  by  his  Conscience, 
always  guiding  his  Conscience  by  God's  law,  this  I  count  to  be 
that  man  in  whom  alone  of  all  men  the  Conscience  is  perfect ;  for 
he  it  is  in  whom  alone  the  perfection  of  the  three  parts  of  the  Con- 
science exists  :  and  he  who  shall  examine  who  that  man  is,  or  in 
whom  these  qualifications  meet,  shall  find  they  do  so  only  in  the 
*^  Justified  Christian."* 

Now,  he  that  examines  the  faults  of  the  natural  Conscience,  and 
compares  it  with  the  perfect  Conscience,  that  is,  the  Conscience 
of  the  man  unfallen,  he  shall  find  that  the  Conscience  of  the  man 
unfallen  must  have  been  completely  free  from  all  error,  and  a  per- 
fect guide.  The  result  of  the  fall,  therefore,  is  that  God  the  Holy 
Spirit  remaining  the  same,  the  natural  deficiencies  of  the  Con- 
science, as  a  faculty,  that  it  has  now,  it  has  from  it.  The'  first 
efiect  of  the  Fall  upon  the  nature  of  man,  is  the  inability  of  the 
Conscience  adequately  to  transmit  to  us  the  voice  of  the  Spirit. 

Of  this  deficiency,  and  the  means  of  correcting  it  by  the  restora- 
tion of  its  Supremacy,  I  have  already  treated ;  and  there  is  no 

*  See  note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  on  the  practical  nature  of  justifying 
fifuth,  page  126 


124  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

doubt  tliat  in  a  very  great  degree  the  sensibility  of  the  Conscience 
may  be  restored  by  these  means ;  indeed,  in  so  great  a  degree  aa 
to  make  men  almost  conclude  that  Conscience  may  be  made  by 
nature  a  perfect  guide. 

But  when  we  come  to  the  third  law  of  the  Conscience,  and  see 
that  it  must  be  governed  by  the  rule  of  God's  law,  then  at  once 
we  see  that  the  natural  Conscience  is  no  sure  guide ;  for  to  them 
who  are  "born  of  the  Spirit,"  the  Spirit  dwells  in  them  in  conse- 
quence of  that  birth,  informing  and  internally  guiding  their  Con- 
science by  an  influence  which,  if  it  come  not  within  our  knowledge 
by  sense,  is  yet  not  the  less  manifest  in  its  effects.  And  secondly, 
as  an  external  law,  the  will  of  God  as  manifested  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  interpreted  and  applied  by  ^he  Church,  is  the  law  by  which 
the  Conscience  is  to  be  ruled. 

The  "Birth  of  the  Spirit,"  then,  in  consequence  of  which  He 
becomes  the  internal  law  of  the  Conscience,  and  the  outward  law 
of  Grod's  revelation,  these  are  the  actual  gifts  of  revealed  religion, 
in  consequence  of  which  the  Conscience  is  perfected,  and  to  which 
no  strife  of  our  own  moral  nature  can  attain  of  itself  merely.  No 
internal  working  or  struggle  of  the  Conscience  of  Socrates  could 
cause  him  to  attain  unto  the  gift  of  Spiritual  Regeneration,  given 
in  consequence  of  our  Saviour's  death,  or  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
completed  canon  of  the  Holy  Scripture. 

But  again,  we  shall  make  another  remark  which  will  more  fully 
manifest  the  truth  of  that  which  we  have  asserted.  In  the  primi- 
tive man  it  has  been  seen  that  the  Conscience  was  a  perfect  guide, 
the  natural  faculty  being  perfect,  and  from  the  Supernatural  Gift 
the  power  perfectly  to  obey  it  was  his.  Hence  was  there  no  Stain 
upon  it,  and  no  Shame,  no  Guilt,  and  thence  no  Fear.  The  Re- 
cording Conscience  detailed  no  transgression  of  God's  will,  and 
the  Prophetic  Conscience  prophesied  no  punishment ;  but  the  past 
was  without  the  consciousness  of  evil,  the  future  without  dread  of 
misery. 

Now,  herein  is  a  difference,  and  a  vital  one ;  there  is  none  of 
fallen  raen  that  has  a  Conscience  that  is  without  Guilt  and  Stain ; 
this  is  to  each  human  being  an  effect  of  the  Fall.  Nature  tells 
us  at  once  that  there  is  no  natural  means  of  removing  this  Guilt 
and  Stain.  Good  is  not  antagonist  to  Evil,  so  that  the  "  plus" 
of  one  shall  make  the  "minus"  of  the  other,  and  that  we  can 
keep  a  debtor  and  creditor  account  with  Conscience,  so  much 


THE   CONSCIENCE.  125 

Good  against  so  much  Evil,  the  surplus  of  our  good  balancing 
accounts  against  our  evil.  But  Good  is  the  living  according  to  a 
law  which  Tve  are  hound  to  live  hy^  and  Evil  the  transgression  of 
that  law.  We  cannot,  therefore,  balance  the  one  against  the 
other. 

Nor  does  Conscience  reveal  to  us  any  way  of  getting  rid  of  the 
Stain  or  the  Guilt ;  in  fact,  to  express  it  clearly,  Conscience  has 
first  a  Warning, power,  and  then  a  Recording  power,  and  then  a 
Power  Prophetic  of  punishment,  but  it  has  no  pardoning  power 
naturally. 

Thence  are  we  to  seek  the  completion  of  Conscience  in  the 
Atonement  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  applied  to  us  ly  the  Spirit; 
the  effect  of  His  death  by  which  our  sins  are  forgiven,  in  conse- 
quence of  our  Regeneration  by  his  Spirit,  the  Stain  of  them 
wiped  out,  and  the  Guilt  pardoned',  and  ourselves  set  free  from  the 
Shame  and  the  Fear.  This  fully  completes,  as  far  as  Conscience 
is  concerned,  our  illustration  of  the  relation  that  nature  bears  to 
grace,  and  Natural  to  Revealed  Religion. 

And  besides  illustrating  the  first  part  of  this  chapter,  it  fully 
shows  the  position  of  Conscience  in  man  as  a  secret  force  in  the 
heart  of  each  which  he  may  resist,  overthrow,  conquer  again  and 
again,  so  as  to  feel  that  he  is  perfectly /reg/rom  compulsion;  and 
that  in  his  actions,  if  he  do  evil,  he  must  act  in  a  full  sense  of  his 
responsibility  and  against  light  and  knowledge. 

So  that  herein  the  Freedom  of  Man,  the  Justice  of  God,  Igno- 
rance and  Unlimited  Knowledge,  Time  and  Eternity,  Mercy  and 
Judgment,  all  meet  together  in  this  one  faculty. 

And  by  this  faculty  in  its  action,  the  dealings  of  the  Almighty 
Creator  with  us  his  creatures  are  justified,  so  that  whatever  man 
may  have  to  say  to  his  fellows  before  their  bar,  before  the  judg- 
ment throne  of  God,  the  evidence  of  the  Recording  Spirit  and  of 
the  man  himself  shall,  in  each  man's  case,  manifest  that  "the 
Judge  of  the  whole  earth  has  not  done  wrong." 

We  have  thus  examined  the  nature  of  Conscience,  and  shown 
its  uses ;  we  have  gone  into  its  laws,  and  the  means  of  perfecting 
the  faculty  naturally  and  spii'itually.  In  the  next  book  we  shall 
proceed  to  consider  the  Reason  as  a  governing  faculty,  the  second 
of  the  governing  powers. 

9 


126  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 


Note  upon  the  Practical  Nature  of  "  Justification  by 
Faith,"  referred  to  on  page  123. 

We  are  "justified  hy  faith,'"  working  hy  love,  and  showing  itself 
in  true  Christian  works. 

In  tlie  justified  man  there  must  be  first,  "  faith — a  sincere  be- 
lief in  the  Gospel,  and  an  appreciation  of  the  Atonement  of  Christ 
as  sufficient  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  as  applied  to  him- 
self." 

2dly,  This  faith  must  realize  itself  in  his  heart  by  the  Spirit  of 
his  Lord,  that  is,  true  love  towards  his  God  and  towards  his  fellow 
men. 

3rdlj.  This  must  issue  forth  in  actual  works  of  love,  in  "  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-sufi"ering,  gen- 
tleness, goodness,  meetness,  temperance,  against  which  there  is 
no  law ;"  in  works  of  mercy  to  the  wretched ;  and  in  subjection  of 
his  own  thoughts,  words  and  actions  to  the  Spirit  and  Law  of 
Christ. 

In  the  Regenerate  Christian  it  will  be  seen,  if  this  be  so  with 
him  during  life,  that  the  voice  of  God,  at  the  last  great  day  of 
judgment,  will  declare  him  just  through  the  blood  of  Christ ;  and 
even  in  this  world  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  through  his  Con- 
science, will  witness  to  his  justification.  According  to  that  which 
the  apostle  says,  "  the  Spirit  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit  that 
we  are  the  sons  of  Grod;"  (Rom.  viii.  16 ;)  and  again,  "  We  have 
not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear,  but  we  have  re- 
ceived the  Spirit  of  Adoption  whereby  we  cry  Abba,  Father." 
Herein  is  seen  the  connexion  of  the  natural  faculty  with  the  Spirit, 
and  the  relation  of  both  under  the  Crospel  to  justification. 

This,  I  conceive,  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  against  both 
the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine,  that  we  are  made  just  by  an  infused 
righteousness,  instead  of  being  declared  just  or  "  acquitted"  by 
the  Atonement,  and  the  Solifidian  scheme,  that  says  that  love  and 
works  are  not  necessary.  But  for  more  ample  information,  I  refer 
the  learned  to  Bishop  Bull's  treatise,  the  "  Harmonia  Apostolica." 

To  the  unlearned,  then,  I  say,  as  a  practical  inference,  if,  after 
you  are  Regenerate,  "  made  a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God, 
an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  for  after  this  point  only 


THE  COXSCIENOE.  127 

in  your  existence  you  have  the  full  filial  privileges  of  the  Spirit's 
power — if  after  this  you  know  that  you  have  true  faith,  that  faith 
that  is  vivified  by  "love"  and  realized  by  "works,"  then  you  are 
justified ;  justified,  if  before  that  secret  tribunal  which  the  Spirit 
of  God  has  erected  in  your  heart,  you  can,  {having  faith,)  truly 
say,  "  I  love  God  according  to  the  measure  of  his  Grace  and  of 
my  own  weakness,  with  all  my  heart,  and  soul,  and  strength  ;  and 
I  truly  strive  to  realize  this  in  Christian  works  of  mercy  and  love." 
The  man  is  "justified"  who  with  faith  in  his  heart,  can  truly  say 
this,  before  his  God. 

But  if  having  had  faith,  and  being  baptized  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  faith  becomes  dead,  and  in  our  hearts  we  know  that  we  do 
not  love  God  above  all  things,  but  our  own  will  or  our  own  plea- 
sure ;  and  that  we  do  not  love  our  neighbors ;  if  we  also  do  no 
Christian  works  of  love,  but  all  our  works  are  founded  on  motives 
of  "Self-will,"  or  "Sensuality,"  or  "  Selfishness,"  so  that  we 
care  not  for  our  neighbor,  but  rather  despise  and  evil  intreat  him, 
when  it  suits  this  Evil  Concupiscence  in  us,  then  are  we  not  jus- 
tified— our  faith  is  not  a  "  living  faith,"  it  neither  is  enlivened  by 
love  nor  realized  by  works.  It  may  not  be  so  dead  as  that  the  root 
should  perish,  but  the  growth  is  stopped,  the  leaf  is  withered,  and 
the  ftuit  is  blighted. 

How,  then,  shall  the  man  recover  ?  Not  by  any  excitement,  not 
by  any  extraordinary  means.  He  knows  what  is  that  inward  ob- 
stacle or  outward  sin  that  impedes  his  course.  He  knows  in  his 
own  heart,  although  others  may  not  know,  what  is  the  peculiar 
besetting  sin  to  which  he  yields.  He  knows  what  that  is  in  thought, 
in  word,  or  in  deed  that  he  does,  through  interest,  through  thought- 
lessness, through  pleasure,  through  habit,  through  outward  tempta- 
tion or  inward  feebleness,  that  is  clearly  and  distinctly  against  his 
own  convictions  of  Christian  duty,  as  manifested  to  his  Conscience 
by  the  Spirit.  While  he  does  this  that  is  so,  the  Spirit  says  to 
his  Conscience,  "Thou  art  not  justified,  thou  art  condemned;" 
and  his  own  consciousness  tells  him  the  same.  His  Reason  and 
his  knowledge  of  the  Law  of  God  assure  him  of  the  same.  God 
to  be  sure  may,  in  his  wise  purposes,  permit  him  to  remain  in  the 
world  and  in  the  Church  even  in  that  state,  but  still  it  is  not  the 
state  of  one  who  is  justified. 

The  man,  then,  in  this  condition,  knowing  that  he  is  in  the 
wrong,  he  should  instantly  set  himself  with  all  his  might  to  ab- 


128  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

stiin  from  that  particular  sin  ;  to  wrestle  with  prayer,  with  fast- 
ing, with  all  the  means  prescribed  both  by  the  Gospel  and  by  his 
own  knowledge  of  himself  to  overcome  it,  according  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  apostle :  "  Wherefore  ...  let  us  lay  aside  every  weight, 
,  and  the  sin  which  so  easily  besets  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience 
the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and 
finisher  of  our  Faith,  .  .  .  lest  ye  be  wearied  and  faint  in  your 
minds.     Ye  have  not  yet  resisted  unto  blood,  striving  against  sin.'' 

If  in  struggling  with  our  besetting  sin,  it  should  bring  us  to  our 
death,  or  wring  drops  of  blood  and  agony  from  the  dearest  afiec- 
tions  of  our  heart,  still  are  we  to  persevere.  And  then,  through 
the  prayer  of  Faith,  through  God's  Grace,  through  the  power  of 
Christ,  we  shall  overcome,  and  be  led  on  conquering  our  sins,  till 
we  reach  that  state  wherein  we  are  Justified,  the  state  wherein 
the  Spirit  bears  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  have  Living  Faith 
that  acts  by  love,  and  realizes  itself  by  true  Christian  works. 

In  this  note  I  have  considered  only  the  case  of  that  man  who 
has  been  once  born  again.  The  state  of  men  outside  the  Covenant 
is  difierent. 


BOOK    III. 
THE    SPIRITUAL    REASON. 


CHAPTER  I. 


First,  Reasoning  is  not  Reason ;  this  illustrated. — The  composition  of  huma-n 
nature  is  not  double,  but  three-fold. — Man  having  an  Animal  Mind  and  a 
Spirit,  these  faculties  in  him  correspond  to  two  worlds,  the  world  of  the 
Seen  and  that  of  the  Unseen. — Hence  two  reasoning  powers,  the  "  Animal 
Mind"  and  Spiritual  Reason. — Moral  ideas  are  received  from  Society  by  the 
Reason. — All  ideas  of  which  it  may  be  said  "  God  is,"  are  of  it. — A  remark 
in  reference  to  our  future  state,  and  the  grounds  of  our  perpetual  progress 
in  it. — The  question  of  innate  ideas. 

Our  readers  will  have  remarked  that  among  the  "  governing" 
powers,  as  we  place  Conscience  the  first,  so  the  second  is  the 
Reason.  To  examine  the  nature  and  laws  of  this  faculty,  there- 
fore, shall  be  the  object  of  the  present  book. 

The  subject  we  acknowledge  to  be  one  of  considerable  difficulty, 
and  yet  we  believe  to  the  reader  who  shall  give  us  his  considerate 
attention,  we  shall  be  able  to  bring  forth  the  laws  and  offices  of 
this  great  power  so  that  the  principles  educed  may  be  something 
of  a  guide  to  him  in  his  course  of  moral  study  as  well  as  in  actual 
life  practically.  The  first  distinction  we  would  have  him  observe 
is  this,  that  "  reasoning"  and  Reason  are  things  wholly  and  entirely 
difierent,  so  different  indeed  that  very  often  considerable  powers 
of  reasoning  shall  exist  in  him  who  has  of  Reason  very  little  at  all. 

A  strange  paradox,  one  may  say,  and  yet  literally  possible, — 
reasoning  is  properly  a  logical  exercise,  the  power  by  which,  "pre- 
mises" being  given  or  assumed,  we  draw  the  conclusion — this  is 
"reasoning."    Now  if  we  look  at  the  definition  of  insanity,  we 

IT  129 


130  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

find  it  is  "that  *madmen  reason  rightly  from  wrong  premises." 
The  reasoning  power  is  unimpaired  in  them,  the  Reason  is  diseased. 
And  this  is  so  well  known  among  physicians  attending  upon  such 
persons,  that  it  is  a  rule  never  to  ^^  reason"  with  them ;  and  that 
because  their  "  reasoning"  powers  are  very  often  even  more  perfect 
and  vigorous  than  ordinary,  while  their  Reason  is  diseased.  This 
shows  that  there  is  a  real  distinction  between  "reasoning"  and 
Reason. 

But,  indeed,  it  is  ordinary  to  mark  it,  the  man  who  is  forever 
arguing,  proving,  disputing ;  in  short,  he  that  has  a  taste  for  "  rea- 
soning," this  man  seldom  we  find  reasonable,  and  seldom  attribute 
Reason  to  him.  So  far  we  have  gone,  and  as  there  are  two  ways 
of  explaining  what  we  mean,  and  the  first  is  that  of  fencing  off 
outwardly  from  our  conception  that  which  does  not  belong  to  it, 
so  we  beg  our  readers  to  mark  this  first,  the  distinction  that  "  rea- 
soning" is  not  Reason. 

Having  thus  noticed  the  verbal  distinction  which  our  readers 
will  find  brought  out  still  more  strongly  afterwards,  we  go  on  to 
examine  what  Reason  is  in  its  own  nature. 

And  here  we  must  be  permitted  to  enter  into  an  examination  of 
a  point  which  is  of  very  great  importance  to  the  question  in  hand, 
as  well  to  the  whole  question  of  Christian  ethics,  the  investigation 
and  decision  of  which,  according  to  the  truth  of  Christianity  and 
Nature,  we  count  absolutely  necessary  to  a  true  Ethics — and  this 
is  the  composition  of  that  which  we  have  called  "  Human  Nature," 
as  to  its  parts.  The  individual  being  that  we  call  a  man,  of  how 
many  parts  is  his  "  Human  Nature"  compounded  ?  "  Of  two,"  at 
once  it  is  answered ;  and  these  two  are  "body  and  soul." 

And  they  that  give  this  answer  undoubtedly  will  be  very  much 
astonished  to  learn  that  it  is  not  so ;  that  the  two-fold  division  of 
Human  Nature  is  not  the  one  given  in  Holy  Writ,  but  a  three-fold 
division,  and  that  that  three-fold  partition  is  not  only  in  express 
terms  made  by  an  Apostle,  but  also  uniformly  observed ;  so  tha^; 
the  division  of  man's  nature  is  not  into  Body  and  Soul,  but  into 
"Body,"  "Animal  Soul,"  and  "  Spirit,"  a  division  three-fold,  not 
two-fold.  "  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit,  {rtvlviia,  pneuma),  and 
soul,  {^vxn'>  psuche),  and  body,  (cjw;ua,  soma),  be  preserved  blameless 
unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."t 

*  This  refers  strictly  to  maniacs  or  monomaniacs,  not  to  idiots. 

1 1  Thess.  V.  23.     See  upon  this  passage  the  commof.tary  of  the  great  Eng- 


THE   SPIRITUAL   REASON.  131 

So  that  here  the  constituent  parts  of  our  nature  are  enumerated 
as  three,  as  furthermore  when  we  go  through  the  Scriptures  we 
find  that  there  are  in  the  original  three  adjectives  derived  from 
these  three  parts,  employed  to  denote  three  different  classes  of 
men  or  natures,  not  two.  If  there  were  only  two  kinds  of  nature, 
the  one  "spiritual,"  under  the  influence  of  God's  Spirit,  and  the 
other  "totally  depraved,"  as  it  is  called,  of  course  there  would  be 
only  two,  the  "spiritual"  and  the  "carnal,"  (pneumatikos  and 
sarkikos).  But  there  are  three,  (pneumatikos,)  spiritual,  (psuchi- 
kos,)  animal,  and  (sarkikos,)  carnal.  "  Carnal"  being  those  who 
are  under  the  dominion  of  the  body  and  its  lusts  and  desires ; 
"spiritual,"  they  who  are  under  the  Spirit  of  God  ruling  their 
spirit ;  and  "  animal,"  they  who  are  as  animals,  are  indifferent  to 
all  religious  feeling,  insensible  and  unawakened,  with  no  spiritual 
perception  and  no  spiritual  feeling. 

Having  gone  so  far,  we  need  not  say  that  the  doctrine  which 
this  treatise  adopts,  is  that  in  Human  Nature  there  are  the  three 
parts  "Body,"  "Animal  Soul,"  and  "Spirit."*     It  remains  to 


lish  theologian  and  saint,  Dr.  Henry  Hammond,  in  Patrick,  Lowth  and 
Whitby.  He  calls  this  the  ancient  and  true  philosophy ;  shows  that  all  the 
noblest  heathen  philosophers  held  it,  and  also  that  those  eminent  fathers  of 
the  Church,  Clement,  Origen,  and  Irenajus,  were  of  the  same  opinion.  He 
declares,  too,  that  the  conflict  between  the  Spirit  and  the  flesh  cannot  be 
understood  without  believing  in  an  Animal  Mind ;  and  that  the  governing 
power  in  us  cannot  be  comprehended  except  we  suppose  a  spirit,  an  infe- 
rior animal  soul,  and  a  body — a  tripartite  existence  in  man.  He  furthermore 
shows  how,  because  of  following  this  mind  of  the  flesh,  the  man  is  styled 
4^;t"toS)  the  animal  man  ;  and  the  body,  before  the  resurrection,  is  the  "  animal 
body,"  as  after  it  is  the  "  spiritual"  body. 

*  Perhaps  I  may  add  to  this  another  illustration.  The  Jewish  commenta- 
tors, some  of  them  translate  thus :  *"  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  two  lives, 
(nephesh  chayim,)  and  man  became  a  living  soul;"  a  translation  of  which 
the  original  is  unquestionably  susceptible. 

This,  then,  will  imply  in  man  two  principles  oi  life ;  the  one  the  psuch^,  or 
animal  soul,  which  he  has  in  common  with  the  beasts,  the  mere  brute  life, 
with  the  faculties  that  belong  to  it,  and  the  other  the  spiritual  life,  which 
belongs  to  man  peculiarly  as  a  spiritual  being.  Original  sin  will  thus  be  ex- 
pressed as  a  mortal  wound  of  the  spiritual  life,  whereby  the  animal  mind, 
with  its  desires,  becomes  enabled  as  against  an  enfeebled  master,  to  become 
insubordinate.     And   thus  the  spiritual  life  in  man  is  so  diseased,  that 

» Gen.  ii.  7. 


132  '  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

apply  these  principles  to  the  elucidation  of  the  point  in  hand,  of 
the  Reason  as  a  moral  power,  or  the  "  Spiritual  Reason,"  as  we 
call  it,  in  opposition  to  the  "  Understanding,"  or,  as  in  this  treatise 
vre  should  choose  to  call  it,  the  "  Animal  Mind." 

Now  taking  it  for  granted  that  there  are  these  three  divisions — 
of  "Body,"  "Animal  mind,"  and  "Spirit," — man  has  the  three, 
the  beasts  have  the  two.  Whatsoever  then  we  find  in  the  beasts 
of  mental  power,  that  is  in  man  also,  this  may  be  considered  as 
belonging  to  them  in  virtue  of  the  "Animal  Mind;"  and  in  man  it 
is  not  as  Spiritual,  but  as  Animal, — ^but  those  powers  which  man 
has  and  they  have  not,  these  may  be  considered  as  peculiarly 
spiritual.  The  powers,  then,  on  the  one  side  of  this  line,  we  con- 
sider to  belong  to  the  "Animal  Mind,"  the  others  to  belong  to  the 
"Spiritual  Reason." 

Now  we  do  not  ask  this  matter  to  go  upon  speculation,  we  are 
content  that  it  should  go  upon  experiment.  And  we  say  this  upon 
the  best  authority  that,  acccording  to  the  experiments  of  the  best 
natural  philosophers,  there  is  no  operation  of  the  mind  that  may 
not  in  hind  (we  do  not  say  in  degree,)  be  traced  in  the  Animals, 
save  only  moral  ideas.  So  far,  then,  have  we  gone  closer  to  the 
real  dijBference  of  the  "Spiritual  Reason,"  and  the  "Animal 
Mind;"  the  one  deals  with  moral  ideas,  the  other  is  excluded  from 
them. 

This  deduction  we  have  before  established,  but  now  we  would 
limit  it  so  as  to  express  it  more  clearly  in  reference  to  the  "  Rea- 
son." We  have  before  shown  that  there  is  an  Animal  Mind,  and 
its  fonctions  we  can  determine  by  a  consideration  of  the  sphere 
from  which  its  impressions  are  derived. 

Now,  when  we  look  at  the  Universe,  at  once  we  feel  and  know 
that  it  is  of  two  parts, — the  one  Corporeal,  the  other  Spiritual, — 
the  one  Visible,  and  the  other  Invisible, — the  one  Finite,  the  other 
Infinite, — the  one  of  the  senses,  the  other  above  the  senses.  In 
one  word,  that  there  is  a  world  material,  corporeal,  visible,  in 
every  way  as  to  itself  and  its  objects,  limited  in  Space  and  Time  : 
and  that  we  will  not  say  side  by  side  with  this  world  of  sense,  but 

except  the  man  receive  healing  from  the  Word,  he  will  die  the  secoiid  death, 
undergo  that  unquenchable  and  unrovealable  Death  Eternal,  which  is  the  real 
death,  the  substance  that,  backward  into  the  world  of  Time,  casts  that 
fihadow  that  we  call  death. 


THE   SPIRITUAL   REASON.  133 

eo-existing  along  with  it  there  is  another  world  of  things  unseeriy 
incorporeal,  spiritv/il. 

Of  these  two  Worlds,  their  being  and  their  co-existence,  we  offer 
no  proof.  The  universal  belief  of  all  men,  in  all  ages,  is  for 
it ;  the  natural  instinct  of  the  heart  of  the  youngest  child,  and  the 
highest  and  surest  persuasion  of  the  broadest-winged  intelligence, 
all  unite  in  believing,  all  agree  in  asserting  that  man  is  a  dweller 
in  two  worlds, — the  world  of  the  Senses,  and  that  of  the  Unseen 
and  Infinite.* 

Not  that  God  made  a  world  material  wholly  and  acting  machine- 
like, and  put  man  in  it,  shutting  out  the  Spiritual  and  keeping  it 
somewhere  apart,  (an  idea  or  notion,  upon  which  a  great  deal  of 
modern  education  is  founded,)  but  that  with  the  Natural  World 
actually  and  really  the  Spiritual  World  co-exists,  (we  use  the 
phrase  only  in  a  figurative  sense,  in  order  to  express  that  the  im- 
pressions, sensations,  emotions,  and  teachings  from  the  one  are 
just  as  many,  just  as  great,  just  as  close  to  us  as  from  the  other.) 
This  Spiritual  world  co-exists  with  the  Natural  one,  and  as  man, 
one  being,  lives  in  the  one,  so  does  he  live  in  the  other,  an  idea 
which  is  clearly  the  persuasion  of  universal  human  nature,  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

True  it  is  that  man  dwells  in  two  Worlds,  so  that,  applying  to 
the  Infinite  appellations  that  belong  to  Space,  and  Time,  and 
Body,  and  therefore  are  only  figuratively  correct,  the  Spiritual 

*  The  Platonists  make  two  worlds,  "  The  world  of  the  things  of  Sense," 
**  The  world  of  the  things  of  Spirit."  The  Hebrews  named  the  universe  by  two 
words  implying  the  same  thing,  "  heaven  and  earth," — that  is  to  say,  the 
whole  compass  of  the  world,  things  spiritual  and  things  earthly,  they  ex- 
pressed by  naming  the  two  extremes.  And  not  until  Pythagoras,  had  the 
ancient  Greeks  any  other  name  for  the  whole ;  he  invented  the  word,  "  Cos- 
mos," as  a  name  for  the  universe,  which  we  translate  world,  but  really  means 
"  the  harmonious  whole."  As  identical  with  this  phrase,  "  heaven  and 
earth,"  the  Greeks  used  also  the  words,  "all  things  visible  and  invisi- 
ble." This  also  is  in  St.  Paul :  "  By  him  are  all  things  created  that  are  in 
heaven  and  thai  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be,"*  &c.  He 
speaks  to  the  Jews  in  their  phrase,  to  the  philosophic  Greeks  in  theirs, 
asserting  to  both  that  God  is  the  creator  of  the  all. 

And  in  the  Nicene  Creed  we  recognize  the  same  distinction,  that  the  created 
universe  is  composed  of  two  parts,  the  "  Spiritual  world,"  and  "the  world  of 
Sense,"  when  we  term  God  the  Father,  "  Maker  of  Heaven  and  earth,  and  of 
aU  things  visible  and  invisible. 
CoLiie. 


184  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

World  is  here  anJ  co-exists  along  with  the  visible  world, — ^we 
dwell  in  contact  with  the  one  as  with  the  other. 

And  as  our  unconsciousness  in  sleep  of  our  relation  to  the  one 
the  material  universe  does  not  disprove,  much  less  annul  the  fact 
of  that  relation,  or  of  its  existence ;  so  our  waking  unconscious- 
ness of  the  other  will  not  disprove  our  being  and  existing  in  it,  and 
our  being  influenced  by  it. 

We  have  brought  this  forward  and  these  views  precisely  at  this 
time,  because  thereby  the  reason  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  of  man's 
external  circumstances  as  a  being  dwelling  in  two  worlds  that  co- 
exist together,  for  that  other  Scriptural  doctrine  of  St.  Paul  as  to 
the  three-fold  division  of  the  nature  into  Body,  Animal  Mind,  and 
Spirit.  Dwelling  in  the  World  of  Sense,  manifestly  his  Body  and 
his  Animal  Mind,  these  he  has  to  deal  with  the  objects  of  sense, 
its  impressions,  feelings  and  ideas  ;  dwelling  in  a  Spiritual  World, 
his  Spirit  is  the  power  by  which  he  is  fitted  for  this.  This, 
then,  we  conceive,  is  that  fact  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  di- 
vision we  have  given,  and  to  which  we  adhere. 

Hence  then,  those  natural  faculties,  common  to  the  animals  and 
to  man,  and  clearly  shown  so  to  be  by  natural  science,  these  we 
consider  to  belong  to  the  "Animal  Mind,"  we  call  them  the  "Ani- 
mal Reason,"  or,  if  the  phrase  be  preferred,  the  "Animal  Under- 
standing,"— ^both  which  we  shall  thenceforth  use  technically  or 
scientifically.  And  we  shall  now  form  our  distinction  that  the 
Animal  Mind  embraces  and  deals  with  all  ideas  or  notions  derived 
purely  and  entirely  from  the  senses, — all  ideas  that  is,  that  are 
merely  physical. 

We  know  that  Mr.  Locke  deduces*  all  ideas  from  the  five  senses 
and  the  reasoning  power,  internally  "compounding,"  "com- 
paring," "dividing,"  and  so  forth, — but  how  it  has  happened  that 
the  brutes,  having  the  five  senses  and  the  reasoningf  power,  have 
not  got  the  ideas  of  "  God,"  and  "freedom,"  and  "immortality," 
and  "law,"  and  "worship,"  and  "heaven,"  and  "hell,"  and  "con- 
science," having,  according  to  Mr.  Locke's  notion,  all  the  ways 
and  means  of  getting  them  that  man  has,  we  do  not  see. 

And  ive  do  see  that  all  these  ideas  connected  with  the  Infinite, 


*  See  his  "  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding." 

t  This  has  been  distinctly  proved  by  late  naturalists, — "  the  same  in  kind, 
although  not  in  degree," — and  is  a  fatal  blow  to  that  philosophy. 

i 


THE  SPIKITUAL  KEASON.  136 

man  receives  first /rom  Society y  and  without  examination^  upon  a 
kind  of  natural  faith  dependent  upon  his  inner  being.  Nor  is 
there  any  man  that  has  ever  existed  to  whom  the  knowledge  of 
these  tilings  has  not  been  conveyed  in  a  language  existing  before 
Jie  came  into  being,  and  then  received,  as  before  mentioned,  upon 
the  faith  of  an  inner  nature. 

Nothwithstanding,  therefore,  Mr.  Locke,  we  believe  in  the  ex- 
istence of  an  "  Animal  Mind,"  which  deals  with  the  ideas  derived 
by  the  senses  from  the  world  of  sense,  compounds,  compares, 
divides,  and  which  man  has,  in  vu-tue  of  his  being  an  Animal. 
And  then,  in  another  faculty  in  him,  the  "  Spiritual  Reason," 
which  he  has  in  virtue  of  his  being  a  Spiritual  Being,  having  a 
Spirit  and  existing  in  a  Spiritual  world.  This  divine  endow- 
ment, then,  we  consider  to  be  that  which  has  to  the  Spiritual,  Un- 
seen, and  Incorporeal,  the  same  relation  that  the  "Animal  Mind" 
has  to  the  world  of  sense.  This  the  man  has  in  virtue  of  liis 
being  a  Spirit,  as  he  has  the  other  in  virtue  of  being  also  an 
Animal.* 

We  thus  make  a  broad  distinction;  the  "Animal Mind"  is  that 
which  deals  with  ideas  and  notions  derived  from  the  World  of  the 
Senses,  ideas  that  are  finite,  sensible,  material ;  and  all  these  ideas 
upon  examination  shall  be  found  to  be  in  reference  to  Morality 
'purely  indifferent.  This  is  the  distinction  that  we  here  establish. 
The  "Animal  Reason,"  then,  or  "Understanding,"  this  we  by 
no  means  place  among  the  ruling  or  governing  powers,  but  the 
Spiritual  Reason  we  do. 

From  the  previous  examination  one  question,  doubtless,  will 
arise  to  all  our  readers :  "  Seeing  that  the  Divine  Reason  obtains 
not  its  ideas  from  the  external  visible  world,  from  whence  does  it 
get  them?" 

The  motto  of  this  book,  our  reader  will  remember,  is,  "  All 
things  are  double,  one  against  another,  and  God  hath  made  no- 

*  It  may  thus  be  seen  that  we  do  not  believe  with  Locke,  that  all  our  ideas 
GoraQfrom  material  objects  ihrough  the  senses.  We  believe  they  come  from  two 
sources,  first,  from  the  Spiritual  -world ;  and  J'rom  it,  either  throngh  the  senses 
by  the  teaching  of  Society,;  or  else  yrom  it,  without  the  medium  of,  sense,  as  is 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit  upon  our  souls.  And  secondly,  another  class  of 
ideas,  those  of  the  Animal  Mind,  come  exclusively  from  the  sense  and  mate* 
rial  objects.  The  theory  of  Locke,  therefore,  in  effect  denies  the  existence  of 
a  Spiritual  World  and  its  connexion  with  man. 


136  CHKISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

thing  imperfect."  If  he  look  to  our  treatment  of  Conscience,  he 
will  find  that  we  treat  of  the  Conscience  as  twofold,  and  in  and 
upon  that  doubleness  rest  the  explanations  we  have  given  of  it 
and  their  truth.  With  regard  to  the  Spiritual  Reason  in  man,  he 
has  seen  the  same  principle  in  one  way  illustrated,  and  if  he  look 
again  he  may  see  the  same  in  another. 

Man,  as  an  existence,  is  what  we  call  a  "fixed  fact;"  he  in 
nature  is  not  a  fixed  and  determined  fact,  and  all  around  the 
spontaneous  and  haphazard  accumulation  of  accident,  rubbish, 
and  weeds,  and  waste,  which  the  ceaseless  tides  of  time  and  the 
current  of  circumstances  have  caused  to  accumulate  around  him. 
Not  so — far  from  it ;  as  Human  Nature  is  the  same  in  constitu- 
tion through  all  ages,  so  is  Society ;  as  the  man  is  a  fixed  fact,  so 
it  is.  The  picture  is  not  a  fact,  and  the  frame  a  non-existence ; 
the  gem  a  fact,  and  the  setting  nothing ;  the  ship  a  fact,  and  the 
river  in  which  it  sails  nothing.  Not  so.  Society,  in  its  three 
forms,  is  the  frame,  the  setting,  the  channel  of  Human  Nature ; 
no  accumulation  of  waste  rubbish,  which  is  floating  up  and  down 
"hj  chance,  but  as  true,  and  real,  and  fixed  a  fact  as  it  is. 

And  now  are  we  prepared  to  answer  the  question.  Let  our  reader 
look  backward  in  this  volume,*  he  will  find  that  Society  serves  a 
twofold  purpose,  that  of  supplying  externally  the  Law  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  his  attributes ;  that  it  is  a  channel  whereby 
there  is  no  man,  even  in  the  remotest  countries,  that  is  without  His 
name. 

"  Whence,  then,  does  the  Spiritual  Reason  obtain  originally  its 
ideas  of  the  Spiritual,  the  Infinite,  the  Unseen  ?"  We  answer,  not 
from  the  five  senses,  f  or  any  operation  of  the  Animal  Mind  upon 
the  ideas  therefrom  derived ;  not  from  any  spontaneous  rising  up 

*  Book  I.  Chapter  IV. 

f  There  is  a  plain  distinction  to  be  noted  here  ;  an  idea  may  come  to  me 
through  the  senses,  and  yet  not  yVowi  them ;  the  one  expresses  that  the  senses 
are  the  channel  merely  of  an  idea  which  did  not  originate  in  them — the  other 
that  they  or  material  things  which  they  perceive,  are  the  origin  of  it.  The  idea 
of  "God,"  of  "  freedom,"  of  "  immortality,"  these  are  conveyed  to  me  in  a 
language  the  worcZs  of  which  I  hear — through  ih&i  sense,  therefore — but  not 
from  it,  but  originating  from  the  Spiritual  world.  The  idea  of  green,  the 
colour  comes  to  me  through  sight,  and y^'om  the  objects  of  that  sense  origin- 
ating in  them.  Again :  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  upon  my  spirit  is  neither 
from  nor  through  the  senses,  yet  causes  in  me,  as  I  know  by  faith,  which  is 
"  the  sense  of  things  unseen,"  very  important  ideas. 


THE   SPIRITUAL  REASON.  187 

of  these  ideas  in  man's  q-wti  mind,  as  some  Philosophers  have  sup- 
posed, but  from  an  original  and  primitive  revelation  of  himself, 
the  qualities  of  his  being,  made  by  God  unto  man.  The  qualities 
of  God  as  a  Spirit,  down  through  the  channel  of  Society  are 
borne  in  language,  that  divine  gift,  and  then  by  man  as  a  Spirit, 
received  and  applied  in  virtue  of  his  "  Spiritual"  reason. 

This  is  the  source  and  origin  of  these  ideas,  and  let  any  man 
examine,  by  constructing  logically  a  proposition  which  consists,  as 
every  one  knows,  of  "  subject"  and  "  predicate,"  as,  for  instance, 
"  man  is  just ;"  he  shall  find  that  to  all  ideas  of  the  Spiritual  Kea- 
son,  God  shall  ever  stand  as  the  subject,  and  the  idea  as  the 
"  attribute,"  as  "  God  is  just,"  "  God  is  holy,"  "  God  is  true." 

Nay,  as  before  remarked,  God  shall  be  the  substance  in  which 
is  all  the  essence  of  each  of  these  truths,  and  the  idea  shall  be 
only  a  quality  in  man,  but  in  God  a  reality. 

For  instance,  "  God  is  just,"  "  God  is  holy,"  "  God  is  true" — 
these  assertions  are  absolutely  and  without  exception*  true  of  God 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances;  but  of  man  not  so 
always.  And  of  God  they  shall  be  so  true  as  "  that  God  is 
justice,"  is  "truth,"  is  "holiness,"  in  a  sense  applicable  to  none 
but  God. 

These  ideas,  then,  and  all  that  the  Spiritual  Reason  deals  with 
of  the  "Infinite,"  the  "Unseen,"  the  "Spiritual,"  these  are 
attributes  of  God's  Nature.  And  being  revealed  by  him  to  man, 
(man's  existence  as  a  Spiritual  being  in  a  Spiritual  world  render- 
ing this  possible,)  are  carried  downward,  through  a  channel  made 
for  this  purpose,  to  each  and  every  man.  And  thus,  as  all  fires  on 
earth  have  been  lighted  from  the  sun,  so  do  all  moral  truths  and 
and  moral  ideas  come  from  God.f   And  the  Spiritual  Reason,  this 

*  The  test  of  these  ideas  is,  that  you  may  say  of  each  of  them  "  God  is," 
and  that  of  which  you  can  truly  say  "  God  is,"  comes  not  from  the  World  of 
Sense,  but  from  the  Spiritual  World. 

Another  test  there  is  of  them ;  they  are  "  necessary  :"  we  know  when  we 
hear  them  that  they  are  so,  and  must  be  so.  For  instance,  the  proposition 
"  God  is  Good,"  this  at  once  is  seen  to  be  "  absolute,"  or  necessary  ;  it  must 
be  so,  and  is  so,  we  at  once  confess  it.  But  the  proposition  "  man  is  good"  is 
not  80.  The  same  proposition  also  in  reference  to  God  is  "universal."  "  God  is 
Good,"  there  is  no  exception  to  this.  To  man  it  is  not  so.  It  will  be  seen, 
then,  that  these  qualities  of  "  necessity"  and  "  universality"  belong  only  to 
ideas  coming  from  the  Spiritual  World. 

t  Of  course  by  the  very  nature  of  the  faculty  this  may  be  in  a  twofold  way. 

1« 


J88  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

is  the  power  in  man's  Spirit ;  or  in  other  -words,  the  spiritual 
faculty  that  perceives  and  applies  to  the  whole  being  of  man  these 
moral  ideas  and  moral  laws,  that  spring  from  the  very  being  and 
attributes  of  the  Eternal  God. 

And  these  moral  truths  are  not  as  some  have  dreamed,  arbitrary 
enactments  of  an  Omnipotent  Will,  making  Good  to  be  Good,  and 
Evil  to  be  Evil,  because  it  is  omnipotent,  and  able  to  make  Good 
Evil,  and  Evil  Good  by  its  decrees ;  but  Good  is  Good  immu- 
tably, because  God  is  Good,  and  Justice  is  just  eternally,  because 
God  is  just ;  and  so  of  all  the  laws  and  facts  of  Morality,  they  are 
aJl  immutable  and  eternal,  as  being  facts  of  His  eternal  Being. 

And  here  would  I  note,  that  in  this  view  that  notion  of  later 
moralists  by  which,  when  they  see  a  moral  instinct  incapable  of 
being  analyzed,  forthwith  they  make  from  it  a  "faculty,"  as  some 
have  a  faculty  or  sense  of  "benevolence,"  of  "justice,"  of  "vera- 
city," and  so  on,  to  the  amount  of  as  many  moral  ideas  as  they  can 
find :  all  these  belong  to  that  one  and  the  same  power,  the  Spiritual 
Reason.  Attributes  they  all  are  of  God ;  and  what  these  moralists 
call  "  senses  of,"  are  not  at  all  senses,  in  the  way  at  least  that 
seeing  is  a  sense,  but  rather  the  feeling  of  the  one  sense,  the 
Spiritual  Reason  that  is,  of  the  eternal  moral  attributes  of  the 
Almighty,  the  realizing  of  them  and  the  application  of  them 
by  it. 

And  herein  is  the  wonderfulness  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  that 
when  by  the  will  of  God  one  of  his  attributes  is  to  it  revealed,  it 
embraces  that  one  so  much  with  its  whole  nature,  that  of  that  it 
seems  all  formed  and  wholly  composed ;  so  much  so  that  men 
shall  talk  of  a  "sense  of  veracity,"  of  "justice,"  of  "law,"  of 
"  benevolence,"  of  "holiness  ;"  the  whole  truth  being  that  in  this 
one  manifold  faculty  of  the  finite  spirit,  that  peculiar  attribute  of 
the  Infinite,  is,  as  it  were,  mirrored. 

And  herein  mainly  do  we  consider  that  the  ever-growing  and 
ever-expanding  progress  of  the  blessed  is  to  be  found  in  the  open- 
ing and  revealing  unto  the  Spiritual  Reason  of  new  and  still  newer 

First,  by  the  ordinary  operation  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  whereby  the  teach- 
ings of  Society  through  Law  and  Tradition,  convey  to  man  spu-itual  knowl- 
edge and  spiritual  ideas. 

The  second,  whereby  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  influence  of  the  An- 
gelic Ministry  and  of  the  Communion  of  Saints,  work  upon  our  Spiritual 
Sense,  and  cause  to  rise  up  in  us  thoughts  and  ideas  of  Good. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  139 

moral  attributes  of  God ;  and  in  the  consequent  awakening  in  the 
glorified  man  of  what  we  should  call  new  spiritual  senses,  and 
hence  of  ever  new  spiritual  enjoyments. 

So  that  attributes  as  much  higher  than  the  highest  we  can  now 
feel  or  express  of  God,  as  these  are  higher  than  those  of  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  and  these  again  than  those  of  bare  natural  religion, 
may  be  unveiled  to  us  in  eternity ;  and  increasing  knowledge  and 
increasing  love,  hand  in  hand,  may  unceasingly  ascend  towards 
the  loftiest  throne  of  the  inscrutable  God. 

This,  then,  the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  sense  of  the  Unseen,  the 
Incorporeal,  the  Infinite,  I  count  to  be  in  man  that  power  that  is 
peculiarly  adapted  to  apprehend  and  feel  the  attributes  of  the 
infinite  God  as  applicable  to  the  finite  man,  as  the  mirror  catches 
the  image  of  the  sun  and  reduces  it  to  its  own  size,  the  proportion 
being  yet  retained ;  that  which  brings  the  Unseen  to  bear  upon 
the  Seen,  and  which,  when  awakened  in  us,  is  the  faculty  whereby 
we  are  bound  to  the  Spiritual  World.  This,  then,  is  peculiarly 
*'  the  moral  sense"  seeing  it  is  that  that  has  in  itself  an  unbounded 
aptitude  for  all  moral  ideas,  all  the  aspects  of  His  perfection  that 
God  may  be  pleased  to  reveal. 

Nay,  it  would  seem,  therefore,  that  there  is  no  perfection  of  His, 
no  loftiness  of  Glory,  no  unrevealed  splendor,  but  there  is  in  the 
Spiritual  Reason  a  feeling  towards  it,  an  instinct  which,  when  the 
ray  of  new  glory  strikes  upon  it,  shall  open  as  a  bud  to  the  sun, 
so  that  "we  shall  be  transformed  from  glory  to  glory." 

And  so  in  this,  the  divinest  of  the  governing  powers,  in  this  con- 
sists the  fact  told  us  in  the  Scriptures,  that  we  are  made  in  the 
"  image  of  God ;"  that  in  us  finite  beings,  limited  both  in  time  and 
space,  there  is  a  faculty  that  reflects  his  attributes,  and  with  mani- 
fold buddings  forth  and  brightenings  can  be  "after  his  likeness," 
eternally  renewed  with  new  knowledges  constantly  received,  and 
new  senses  of  them  constantly  arising  in  it. 

This,  that  the  "image  of  God  in  man"  consists  in  his  having 
"the  Reason,"  is,  however,  not  my  private  opinion  or  my  argu- 
mentation, but  the  continued  interpretation  of  the  Universal 
Church.     I  invent  it  not,  but  only  expound  it. 

At  the  same  time  there  are  certain  moral  dogmas  that  shall  lead 
us  to  the  conclusion  if  we  assert  them ;  and  if  we  deny  them,  or 
any  one  of  them,  we  shall  deny  the  above  conclusion.     These  are : 


140  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Fii*st.  "  That  morality  and  its  laws  are  eternal  and  immutable, 
not  factitious  or  arbitrary  J" 

Secondly.  "  That  the  law  and  ideas  of  good  originate  in  and  are 
attributes  of  God,  and  are  not  derived  from  outward  objects  of 
sense,  or  anything  finite  or  corporeaV 

Thirdly.  "  That  the  nature  of  man  is  the  same  in  all  ages,  and 
does  not  change  from  age  to  age.'^ 

Fourthly.  "  That  there  was  a*  Primitive  Revelation  of  God  to 
man." 

Fifthly.  "  That  Society  is  a  fixed  and  established  channel  of 
moral  law  and  moral  knowledge." 

And  to  these  we  may  add,  sixthly,  "  That  language  is  not  an 
invention  of  man,  so  that  the  primitive  men  were  dumb,  and  gradu- 
ally, from  the  grunts  and  screams  and  bowlings  of  mere  animals 
framed  themselves  that  wonder — a  language ;  but  that  in  itself  it 
was  the  gift  of  Cf-od,  and  of  his  framing ." 

Now  these  six  opinions  are  all  taken  for  granted  in  that  our 
elucidation  as  true, — drop  one,  and  it  falls. 

Another  observation  will  aid  us  very  much  to  discern  the  import- 
ance of  the  Spiritual  Reason  in  man.  We  have  shown  how  this, 
in  the  peculiar  and  proper  sense  in  which  we  have  defined  it,  is 
that  wherein  the  "image"  consists,  and  so  it  was  held  by  the 
Ancient  Church  universally ;  so  that  in  reference  to  God,  it  is  his 
image  in  us  ;  and  truly  so  since  it  reflects  his  attributes  and  applies 
the  Spiritual,  the  Unseen,  the  Infinite  to  man,  who  is  finite.  This, 
then,  is  its  relation  unto  God, — His  image  in  man  is  the  Spiritual 
Reason.  Now  in  reference  to  the  first  faculty  of  man's  nature, 
the  Conscience,  we  have  before  made  a  remark  that  we  give  to  it 
a  personality  different  from  our  own,  and  that,  especially,  when  we 
attribute  unto  it  the  high  and  supreme  authority  which  Conscience 
has,  we  speak  of  it  not  as  "I,"  but  as  another  being  commanding 
and  ruling,  by  a  legitimate  and  infallible  sway,  over  that  which 
every  man  understands  when  he  says  "I." 

But  with  reference  to  the  "  Spiritual  Reason,"  as  an  acute 
author  has  remarked,  the  Reason  we  consider  to  be  our  person- 
ality ;  the  "  I,"  it  is  the  exponent  of  our  whole  nature,  that  which  in 
action  reveals  the  man,  the  representative  in  action  of  his  nature.f 

*  For  an  exposition  of  the  circumstances  of  this,  see  first  Book. 

t  "  But  though  each  man's  desires  and  aflFections  belong  specially  to  himself 


THE   SPIRITUAL  REASON.  141 

Having  thus  seen  the  relation  of  the  Reason  to  the  man,  we  go 
on  now  to  examine  its  oflSces  and  operations ;  and  bj  the  descrip- 
tion we  have  given  of  it  we  see  that  to  perceive  the  ideas  that  we 
call  moral  is  one  of  its  offices,  seeing  that  by  means  of  it  alone  we 
receive  them,  and  not  from  external  nature.  The  second  office  is 
manifestly  the  retaining  and  keeping  them  in  the  mind  as  rules 
and  laws  and  patterns  after  which  to  model  our  action :  and  the 
third  is  the  applying  them  to  our  action. 

Of  these  we  shall  at  length  enter  into  the  examination,  but  pre- 
viously to  this  discussion  we  would  point  out  to  our  readers  a  criti- 
cal remark  of  some  interest.  The  attributes  of  God  in  the  first 
are  perceived,  in  the  second  they  are  retained  in  the  Reason  as 
"  rules  and  models."  Now  models  are  in  Greek  iSitu,  (ideai) ;  in  us, 
then,  these  are  ideas,  ideai,  models,  after  which  to  form  our  conduct. 
The  Platonists  transfer  these  ideas  to  God,  and  ask,  are  not  these 
the  "  models"  in  the  Eternal  Mind  after  which  he  made  the  world  ? 
This  I  conceive  to  be  a  fair  representation  of  the  Platonic  doctrine 
of  "ideas,"  in  their  sense,  and  of  its  origin. 

Again,  the  famous  question  of  "innate  ideas"  herein  is  resolved 
by  the  same  consideration,  a  question  which,  as  it  is  discussed,  is 
like  the  question  as  to  whether  the  fire  is  in  the  flint  or  the  steel : 
and  which  we  answer  in  this  way,  that  the  "Reason"  is  in  man 
the  image  of  God,  and  in  it,  therefore,  all  ideas  that  are  not  of 
sense,  but  of  the  "Infinite,"  "Spiritual,"  and  Eternal,  are  innate 
and  existent  as  germs  ;*  hut  latent,  the  feeling,  aptitude  or  instinct, 
rather  than  the  idea,  so  that  of  itself  spontaneously,' except  the 
same  idea  in  a  definite  external  form  be  brought  to  the  mind  from 
without,  it  could  never  arise  to  consciousness.  But  when  the 
Tradition  and  the  Law,  through  the  channel  of  Society,  touches 
upon  it,  then,  from  the  union  of  the  two,  the  idea  is  consciously 
developed.     The  fire  is  in  the  flint,  it  is  not  in  the  flint ;  it  is  in 

"while  Reason  is  a  common  faculty  in  all  men,  we  consider  our  Reason  as 
being  ourselves  rather  than  our  Desires  and  Affections.  "We  speak  of  Desire, 
Love,  Anger  as  mastering  tis,  or  of  ourselves  as  controlling  them.  If  we  decide 
to  prefer  some  remote  or  abstract  good  to  immediate  pleasure,  or  to  conform 
to  a  rule  which  brings  us  present  pain,  which  decision  implies  the  exercise  of 

Reason,  we  more  particularly  consider  such  acts  as  our  own  acts We 

identify  ourselves  with  our  Rational  part "  Whewell,  Elem.  of  Morality,  vol. 
I.  II  58,  59. 

*  This  manifestly  can  be  so  only  because  man  is  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
jknd  only  so  far  as  he  is  so. 


142  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

the  steel,  it  is  not  in  the  steel, — but  from  the  flint  and  the  steel 
together,  it  is.  This,  then,  we  count  the  resolution  of  the  problem 
of  innate  ideas. 

Having  thus  touched  upon  these  two  questions,  we  shall  now 
proceed  to  the  examination  of  the  powers  of  the  Spiritual  Reason, 
and  their  laws,  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  Spiritual  Reason. — Its  Modes. — 1st.  Moral  Perception ;  2d.  Moral  Feel- 
ing; 3d.  Moral  Principle — These  established  and  illustrated. —  Menial 
cultivation  is  different  from  moral,  and  cultivation  peculiarly  moral  is 
necessary. — Is  ever  the  Divine  Spiritual  Reason  wholly  undeveloped  ? — 
Ansvrered  in  the  affirmative. — The  Reason  may  be  developed  consciously 
and  unconsciously. 

In  our  last  chapter  we  have  sufficiently  established  the  existence 
of  the  faculty,  which  we  have  called  the  '  Spiritual '  Reason.  We 
have  indicated  its  object  in  the  attributes  of  God,  manifested  unto 
us  as  moral  truths, — eternal  and  immutable  truths, — ^brought  to 
bear  upon  us  by  the  channel  of  Society.  We  proceed  to  examine  it 
a  little  more  fully  in  reference  to  its  action. 

Now  we  have  divided  the  operation  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  in 
a  triple  way,  and  if  we  take  all  ideas  whatsoever  that  belong  to  it, 
all  that  belong  to  the  Infinite,  the  Spiritual,  the  Unseen,  or,  in 
other  words,  all  those  qualities  of  which  we  may  say,  "God  is," 
for  this  is  the  formula  that  includes  all  the  truths  that  are  the  ob- 
jects of  the  Reason ;  if  we  take  these  in  their  action  upon  the 
mind,  we  shall  find  these  modes  exhaust  that  action, — "It  is  per- 
ceived," "It  is  felt,"  "It  is  held  as  a  principle."  These,  then,  we 
make  the  faculties  of  the  Reason  as  regards  the  eternal  truths  of 
God, — "Moral Perception,"  "Moral Feeling,"  "Moral Principle," 
— ^three  faculties  or  functions  of  the  reason  in  man,  by  wliich  he 
deals  with  truth. 

Now  at  the  very  first  we  shall  be  met  with  the  assertion,  that 
this  is  strange  that  we  should,  as  it  were,  assign  in  the  mind 


THE   SPIRITUAL  REASON.  143 

a  particular  sense  called  "Moral  Perception,"  as  if  one  man 
did  not  perceive  the  value  of  a  Moral  Truth  as  well  as  another. 
With  reference  to  this,  we  say  that  it  is  so ;  that  take  any  two  men, 
one  man  shall  hear  the  assertion,  or  make  it,  that  "God  is  good," 
or  that  "man  ought  to  be  benevolent,"  or  any  other  of  the  same 
kind  of  assertions  in  the  same  way,  as  a  man  in  a  dream  speaks  or 
hears.  He  shall  say  that  they  are  true,  just  as  he  shall  say  it  is 
true  that  "twice  two  are  four."  Nay,  he  may  be  able  to  talk 
about  it  and  argue  on  it  ingeniously  and  eloquently,  but  this  shall 
be  in  an  outside,  unimpressive,  unimpressed,  and  unrealizing  way, 
— a  way  not  realizing  his  theme  as  a  truth  intimately  suited  to  his 
nature, — not  feeling  it  as  of  any  importance, — not  applying  it  as 
a  living  law  of  life. 

We  have  known,  we  say,  men  purely  and  entirely  selfish,  so  far 
as  God  will  permit  man  to  be  so,  that  had  been  taught  in  our  Col- 
leges that  most  destructive  doctrine,  that  "  Enlightened  Selfishness 
is  the  main  and  only  principle ;"  and  we  have  seen  their  percep- 
tion as  to  their  own  interest,  tremblingly  alive, — watching,  with  a 
prophet's  eye,  the  slightest  gloom  over  their  horizon, — guarding, 
with  an  intense  sensibility,  against  the  remotest  annoyance, — 
searching  with  microscopic  vision  for  the  smallest  addition  to  per- 
sonal comfort ;  we  ask,  have  not  these  men  an  intense  "  Percep- 
tion "  of  self-interest  and  self-gratification, — an  intense  "  Feeling  " 
oiself — have  they  not?  and  a  fixed  and  set  "Principle"  of  self,' 
guiding  their  conduct  ? 

And,  then,  let  us  try  them  with  regard  to  any  moral  idea. 
They  have,  as  to  it,  no  Moral  "Perception,"  only  a  verbal,  or 
logical,  or  a  merely  mental  one.  They  are  like  Gallio,  who  under- 
stood Greek  as  a  learned  Roman,  and  Law  as  a  wise  governor,  and 
heard  St.  Paul  and  the  Jews  disputing  about  the  highest  truths  of 
religion,  and  thought  them  "words  and  names,"  having  no  reali- 
ties to  correspond ;  or,  like  the  acute  heathen  philosophers,  who 
thought  that  St.  Paul  preached  certain  new  deities,  because  he 
preached  to  them  "Jesus  and  the  resurrection,"  taking  undoubtedly, 
as  St.  Chrysostom  remarks,  "Jesus"  for  one  new  God,  "Resur- 
rection" (Anastasis,)  for  another. 

This  is  the  aspect  such  men  turn  to  Moral  Truth, — an  aspect 
wholly  unperceptive,  insensible,  frozen,  dead,  because  they  have 
merely  a  verbal  perception,  while  towards  self,  or  ambition,  or 
money,  their  apprehension  is  endued  with  the  keenest  sensibility. 


144  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Again,  this  their  object,  or  passion,  or  feeling,  shall  dwell  upon 
their  mind  anxiously, — their  thoughts  naturally  shall  run  that  way, 
— their  feelings  gather  themselves  around  it  as  a  nucleus  of  emo- 
tion,— perpetual  meditation  shall  consecrate  it,  and  all  moral  sub- 
jects shall  be  unthought  of,  unfelt,  unregarded.  This  desire  shall 
be  a  living  spring  of  action  perpetually  at  work ;  consciously,  so 
that  the  man  knows  and  feels  it  himself;  and  also  unconsciously, 
so  that  others  feel  and  know  it  when  he  does  not, — a  principle,  in 
other  words  an  energio  spring  of  action,  ever  at  work,  when  no 
moral  truth,  no  moral  principle  ever  abides  with  them  as  a  motive 
power. 

Now  we  have  given  examples  as  to  immediate  deadness  of  the 
mind  as  regards  moral  truth.  And  we  say,  that  if  we  consider  any 
moral  truth  in  these  three  modes, — if  we  look  to  one  class  of  men 
and  then  to  another,  the  one  shall  be  found  to  hear  a  moral  truth 
announced  in  words,  to  apprehend  the  meaning  of  the  words  logi- 
cally, mentally,  verbally,  yet  to  have  no  living  and  realizing  sense 
of  its  value, — no  feeling  of  its  worth, — in  short,  no  perception  of 
its  relation  and  connection  with  themselves.  While  to  the  other, 
the  words  convey  a  truth  which  the  individual  apprehends  as  pre- 
cious and  valuable  as  his  very  existence ;  and  the  very  knowledge 
of  which  will  seem,  as  it  were,  to  cast  a  glory  over  all  nature,  and 
a  new  light  over  heaven  and  earth, — to  disclose  a  thousand  secrets 
and  a  thousand  mysterious  ties  that  bind  us  to  all  men, — to  open 
and  awake  in  our  being  new  founts  and  sources  of  joy  that  before 
had  been  hidden. 

These  are  effects  that  each  one  perhaps  in  the  world,  at  one 
time,  has  recognized  in  himself  or  in  others, — a  process  that  is  per- 
petually going  on ;  either  the  man  becoming  hard,  and  cold,  and 
dead  morally,  or  becoming  more  and  more  sensitive  to  good. 

The  power  of  Moral  Perception  is  as  much  a  power  and  faculty 
as  that  of  Sensation,  or  that  of  Memory.  Its  objects  are  as  defi- 
nite, its  action  as  manifest.  We  consider  it  to  be  determined,  and 
we  shall  give  rules  and  laws  for  its  exercise  when  we  have  suffi- 
ciently determined  the  other  two  modes  of  the  Spiritual  Reason. 

The  first,  then,  of  the  faculties  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  we  con- 
sider Moral  Perception  to  be — and  we  define  it  to  be  the  "  Spiritual 
apprehension  of  the  immutable  truths  of  Morality." 

The  second  mode  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  Moral  Feeling,  is 
very  hard,  indeed,  to  define,  or  bring  clearly  out  in  words,  so  that 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  146 

one  sbould  be  able  to  recognize  it  as  a  moral  faculty.  Still  let 
the  man  who  has  ever  felt  a  spiritual  truth  or  apprehended  it,  let 
him  reflect,  and  he  shall  see  that  when  once  it  has  been  spiritually 
apprehended,  it  seems  as  if  in  the  Inner  Nature  there  were  a  hidden 
Treasure-house*  wherein  it  is  stored  up  as  a  peculiar  treasure  and 
a  possession.  It  seems  that  therein  the  soul  dwells  with  it,  and 
delights  in  it,  and  feels  it  to  be  a  particular  and  precious  acquisi- 
tion, and  rejoices  over  it.  And  when  the  man  walks  abroad,  he 
recurs  to  it  again  and  again,  with  perpetual  and  constant  re- 
iteration of  thought,  as  to  a  something  that  comes  to  him  from 
without,  which  he  can  feel  and  know  to  have  become  his  own,  and 
yet  cannot  reveal  in  its  fulness  to  others. 

In  fact,  each  Moral  Apprehension  of  the  kind  I  have  above 
specified  becomes  to  the  man  an  internal  spring  of  action  and  life, 
independent  altogether  of  outward  things,  which  is  to  him,  if  he 
only  avail  himself  of  it  duly  and  properly,  what  a  new  sense,  un- 
awakened  before,  would  be  as  regards  this  external  world. 

We  may  not  be  able  precisely  to  define  this  thing ;  but  take  one 
man,  and  you  shall  find  him  speak  falsely  in  such  a  way  as  to  show 
that  he  has  no  sense  or  feeling  of  truth.  Take  another  man,  who 
has  once,  in  the  way  we  have  spoken  of,  apprehended  morally  the 
value  of  Truth,  and  enquire  of  him  and  he  will  tell  you,  it  may  be 
in  a  very  confused  and  indistinct  manner,  and  yet  sufficiently 
brought  forth  to  declare  the  truth  of  this  our  exposition,  "  that 
the  feeling  of  truth  dwells,  he  knows  not  how,  in  his  being — that 
it  is  a  new  element,  as  it  were,  of  his  nature,  which  he  constantly 
recurs  to  with  affection,  and  loves  it,  and  struggles  to  retain  the 
perception  as  keenly  as  at  first  he  felt  it." 

And  so  shall  you  find  to  be  the  case  with  the  mind  of  man  as 
regards  all  of  these  that  we  have  defined  as  Moral  Ideas — after 
he  has  spiritually  apprehended  them  there  is  a  faculty  of  the  Rea- 
son that  retains  them,  as  it  were,  internally — the  faculty  of  Moral 
Feeling. 

The  third  mode  of  the  Divine  Reason,  which  we  proceed  to 
define,  is  Moral  Principle — a  thing  very  easily  understood  in  fact, 
but  very  difficult,  as  aU  these  are,  to  explain  in  words.  But  let  us 
take  an  illustration.     Suppose  a  man  to  make  up  his  mind  that  he 

♦  This  is  the  Synteresis,  or  "  Spiritual  Treasury  in  the  soul,"  of  the  ancient 
moralists,  that  faculty  of  holy  contemplation  and  meditation,  whereupon 
.  maiiily  the  ripeness  and  mellowness  of  Christian  character  depends. 

19 


146"  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

will  attain  wealth,  and  to  make  this  the  supreme  end  of  hiB  eon- 
duct,  without  any  other  rule.  There  is,  we  will  say,  in  a  neigh- 
bouring bank  an  immense  amount  of  specie ;  he  could  lay  a  plan 
and  rob  that  bank,  and  become  immensely  wealthy ;  he  does  not 
do  so,  because  "  the  chances  are  so  great  that  he  will  be  detected, 
imprisoned,  become  infamous,  and  be  prevented  thereby  from 
attaining  the  object  of  his  wishes,"  and  so  he  does  not  so  ;  but  he 
would  do  so  if  he  were  absolutely,  entirely  certain  that  he  would 
escape,  that  he  would  thereby  attain  the  wealth  he  desires,  and 
keep  it.  That  man  does  not  act  from  moral  principle,  but  from 
policy.  His  merit  is  as  great,  his  moral  deserving  as  much,  as  that 
of  the  wolf  who  refuses  the  bait  upon  the  trap  which  he  has  seen 
take  his  brother  wolf. 

Again :  you  shall  see  another  man,  who  having  apprehended  a 
moral  truth,  having  had  it  established  as  a  feeling,  has  it  also  in 
his  Mind  as  a  rule  of  action,  that  is  not  altered  by  any  external 
consequences  that  may  take  place,  that  holds  it  as  a  principle — a 
"principium,"  or  "beginning"  of  action,  before  and  antecedent 
to  which  there  stands  no  motive  but  itself;  which  is  of  itself  a 
fundamental  motive,  that  is  not  based  upon  any  other ;  an  ulti- 
mate rule  that  decides  all  disputed  points ;  a  measure  which  mea- 
sures all  actions,  and  is  itself  measured  by  no  consequences. 

Such,  to  the  man  of  moral  principle,  is  "honesty,"  "justice," 
"purity,"  "veracity,"  or  "mercy."  Because  he  has  realized 
them  as  principles,  he  loves  them  for  themselves,  not  merely  for 
the  good  they  may  bring  him.  And  if  a  time  come  when  they 
bring  evil,  still  he  loves  them,  and  acts  upon  them  the  more.  For 
the  treasure  of  a  moral  principle,  first  apprehended,  then  realized 
as  an  inward  principle,  and  then  applied  to  action  as  a  law  of  life, 
is  an  inward  wealth  that  countervails  and  outweighs  all  earthly 
gain  or  loss.  This  many  men  have  felt  and  acted  upon — many 
men,  many  women,  and  many  children.  This  constitutes  moral 
principle  ;  this,  and  nothing  less  than  this. 

And  we  shall  find  many  such  persons  in  this  world,  men  that 
shall  take  a  principle,  because  of  itself,  and  sufier  no  accumula- 
tion of  profits,  no  pile  of  temptations,  no  assurance  of  impunity 
to  move  them;  but  in  little  things,  in  great  things,  that  shall 
move  onward  measuring  all  things  external  by  their  internal 
Law,  or  Rule,  or  Principle,  saying,  "  Thus  I  do  because  it  is 
bonest ;  it  is  just ;  it  is  pure ;  it  is  true,  or  it  is  merciful."    Is 


THE   BPIRITUAL  REASON.  147 

there  not  a  difference  between  the  one  persoli  and  the  other — a 
plain  difference,  and  easily  tested  ? 

This  the  old  Christian  Moralists  called  the  "  Spiritual  Law," 
as  the  other  they  called  the  "  Spiritual  Treasury,"  and  thus  I  con- 
sider that  this  mode  of  the  reason  is  most  manifestly  and  distinctly 
established.  , 

These,  then,  are  the  three  modes  of  the  Spiritual  Reason : 
"Moral  Perception,  Moral  Feeling,  and  Moral  Principle." 

Having,  then,  specified  these  three  modes  as  to  their  operation, 
we  shall  now  proceed  further  on  in  the  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  faculty  itself  has  been  established.  The  modes  of  its 
operation,  and  the  object  upon  which  it  is  employed,  as  well  as  the 
channels  through  which  that  knowledge  that  is  its  object  awakens 
it  in  man,  have  been  shown.  Various  observations,  then,  of  the 
highest  importance  are  here  to  be  made. 

In  the  first  place,  from  our  examination  it  is  manifest  that  men^ 
tal  cultivation  is  not  cultivation  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  but  there 
may  exist  a  very  high  and  complete  degree  of  cultivation  merely 
mental,  in  conjunction  with  the  most  neglected  and  uncultivated 
state  of  the  Spiritual  Reason.  A  man  may  be  a  most  complete 
Geometer,  or  Mineralogist,  or  Botanist,  or  Chemist,  with  his  powers 
of  observation  trained  to  the  utmost  acuteness  of  perception,  and 
his  mental  power,  as  far  as  these  sciences  are  concerned,  highly 
exercised,  and  yet  in  the  higher  qualities  of  the  Spiritual  Reason 
be  more  of  a  brute  than  an  inhabitanit  of  Caffraria,  or  a  native 
of  New  South  Wales  or  New  Zealand ;  because  all  these  sciences, 
when  reduced  to  the  simplest  elements,  are  founded  exclusively 
upon  the  ideas  of  the  Visible,  the  Corporeal,  and  the  Seen,  the 
objects,  that  is,  of  the  senses ;  and  upon  the  Understanding  or 
faculty  that  deals  with  the  ideas  derived  from  the  senses,  not  upon 
the  High  Spiritual  Reason,  does  proficiency  in  them  depend. 

We  say,  then,  with  reference  to  what  are  called  the  "  Exact 
Sciences,"  and  the  "  Sciences  of  observation,"  that  a  training  in 
them  does  not  necessarily  awaken  the  Spiritual  Reason  in  the 
slightest  degree,  or  exercise  in  any  way  its  powers.  We  say  not 
that  it  is  adverse  any  more  than  we  say  that  any  other  exercise  of 
the  mental  powers  is  adverse,  but  merely  that  increasing  the  mental 
powers,  it  leaves  the  moral  power  wholly  unexerted  and  unexercised 
80  far  as  itself  goes.  » 

And  he  that  shall  send  his  son  to  a  school  wherein  his  mental 


148  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

powers  are  trained  in  tlie  very  fullest  way,  and  expect  that  by 
reason  of  that  training  his  moral  powers  shall  be  educated,  without 
a  direct  training  addressed  to  them,  that  man  has  mistaken  the 
very  nature  of  things.  To  call  forth  muscular  power,  you  exer- 
cise the  muscles ;  to  give  strength  to  the  lungs,  you  train  them ; 
enfeebled  powers  of  voice  are  strengthened  by  exercise  and  train- 
ing directly  applied  to  its  organs :  how  absurd,  then,  the  notion 
that  you  add  to  the  Moral  Powers  by  utterly  neglecting  them,  and 
attending  wholly  to  those  powers  that  are  exclusively  mental ! 

Teach  the  youth  the  Law  of  the  Conscience,  the  first  great  step 
in  morality.  Teach  him  how  he  must  act  in  obedience  to  it  at  all 
risks  ;  then  point  out  to  him  its  nature,  and  the  progress  he  shall 
make  heavenward  if  he  will  only  follow  it.  Teach  him  then  the 
law  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  and  its  nature ;  supply  him  with  the 
food  for  that  faculty  whereby  man  is  in  the  "image  of  God." 
Point  him  out  the  nature  of  the  Affections,  and  the  holy  balm  for 
misery  and  sorrow  that  lies  in  them,  the  glory  and  the  light  from 
heaven  shed  upon  the  meanest  hut  by  them;  the  awful  conse- 
quences that  arise  from  their  perversion.  Then  instruct  him  in 
the  power  of  the  Will,  the  energy  residing  in  that  spring  of  power. 
Point  out  to  the  youth  all  this.  Say  to  him,  "  this  is  in  thee ; 
all  these  powers  and  all  these  possibilities  are  in  thee,  by  thyself 
to  be  called  out  and  exerted."  And  then  show  to  him  how  the 
Heavenly  is  a  supplement  of  the  Earthly ;  how  the  pillar  let  down 
from  heaven  unites  with  i^at  which  springs  up  from  the  earth ; 
that  not  a  want,  not  a  weakness,  not  a  misery,  not  a  deficiency  of 
our  Human  Nature  but  has  its  fulness,  its  strength,  its  joy,  its 
sufficiency  in  the  Divine  Nature  of  God  the  Word,  who  became 
Flesh  for  us.     This,  methinks,  would  be  a  direct  moral  training. 

In  short,  I  plainly  say  this,  that  in  order  morally  to  educate, 
you  must  not  trust  to  mental  education,  you  must  educate  morally. 
You  must  instruct  in  two  things,  which  constitute  together  moral 
education,  and  directly  develope  the  Spiritual  Reason.  The  first 
of  these  is  Christian  Ethics,  the  "  Science,"  as  I  have  defined  it, 
I  of  "Man's  Nature  and  Position:"  and  the  second,  that  which  is 
|the  crown  and  complement  of  this,  "Religion." 

And  furthermore,  the  education  in  these  two  must  not  be  Mental, 
kut  Moral  and  Religious;  not  '•'■  discussions,"  ^'•proofs,"  ^'■essays'' 
i^on  "prayer,"  "hope,"  "good  works,"  but  prayer,  hope,  good 
works  done  ;  for  mental  discussings  are  not  religious  works  done  : 


THE  SPIKITUAL  REASON.  140 

not  discussions,  proofs,  essays  upon  conscience,  reason,  the  wUl, 
and  so  forth, — but  direct  and  immediate  action  and  training  in  the 
individual  of  these,  the  "governing"  or  moral  powers.  This  I 
count  a  distinction  of  the  deepest  importance,  that  "  the  Mental 
Powers  may  be  occupied  about  the  Moral  Powers,  or  moral  sub- 
jects derived  from  them,  and  the  moral  powers  be  at  the  same  time 
utterly  unexercised."  And  teachers  should  most  exceedingly  be 
on  their  guard  lest  at  the  very  time  they  think  they  are  the  most 
educating  the  moral  powers,  the  mental  powers  only  may  be 
engaged.  A  direct  exercise  of  the  mental  powers  is  necessary  to 
give  mental  strength,  so  is  a  direct  exercise  of  the  moral  powers  to 
give  moral  strength. 

This  discussion  I  have  introduced  here  because  here  is  the  most 
appropriate  place  for  it ;  and  he  that  shall  look  back  and  consider 
the  nature  of  the  Animal  Mind  or  Understanding,  and  then  shall 
think  upon  the  Spirit  and  its  faculties,  of  which,  as  the  first  is 
Conscience,  so  the  most  cultivable  is  the  Spiritual  Reason,  he 
shall  see  very  plainly  and  manifestly  the  cause  why  it  is  here 
introduced. 

Another  question  concerning  this  faculty  and  its  modes,  is  very 
interesting,  that  is  to  say,  *'  Can  this  faculty  of  the  higher  reason 
be  wholly  undeveloped  in  any  one  ?"  The  answer  is,  "  not  in  any 
one  that  is  in  Society ;"  for  this,  in  its  various  organizations,  is  the 
channel  of  "  law"  and  of  moral  "  knowledge"  that  awakens  in  each 
and  every  one  in  Society,  that  is,  in  every  one  that  speaks  a  lan- 
guage, the  Spiritual  Reason  more  or  less.  Men,  in  order  to  be 
brutes,  in  whom  the  image  of  God  is  not,  must  be  retained  apart 
from  all  society,  all  language ;  apart  from  the  Family,  the  Nation, 
and  the  Church,  that  they  may  be  as  the  beasts  are.  And  then  the 
Animal  shall  be  dumb,  without  language,  with  the  cunning  of  the 
brute,  and  without  the  Spiritual  Reason.  The  idea  of  Pleasure 
and  Pain  it  shall  have  as  the  brutes ;  these  shall  be  its  whole 
motives,  and  from  them  shall  come  its  various  notions.  But  the 
ideas  that  are  the  objects  of  the  moral  power,  as  Truth,  Mercy, 
Justice,  Benevolence,  all  these  of  which  we  may  say  "  God  is,"  of 
all  these  it  shall  have  no  idea,  the  sense  of  them  never  shall  have 
been  awakened :  for  Society  it  is  that  is  the  channel  of  these  ideas 
by  which  they  are  carried  to  each;  individual,  and  awaken  in 
him  the  Spiritual  Reason,  whether  he  will  or  not.  But  in  the  case 
we  have  supposed,  it  shall  be  as  the  eyesight  which  from  birth  has 


150  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

been  unexcited  by  the  light,  when  it  should  have  been  excited,  and 
is  therefore  dead  and  perished. 

This  is  the  only  case  in  which  such  a  thing  can  be ;  but  for  the 
man  who  is  in  Society,  the  circumstances  of  his  position  and  the 
.  effect  of  its  schools,  will  even  unconsciously  develope  in  him,  to  a 
more  or  less  degree,  the  Spiritual  Reason. 

From  this  comes  a  question  most  exceedingly  interesting,  it  is 
this:  "Can  moral  truth  be  learned  unconsciously,  without  our 
Tcnowing  that  we  learii  it  ?  Can  the  moral  faculty  be  developed  in 
us  without  our  knowing  that  it  is  so  ?"  A  question  this  is,  that  is 
most  deeply  important.  It  would  seem,  from  the  above  example, 
that  it  can  be  so.  And  when  we  look  at  the  Principle  of  Imita- 
tion, implanted  as  it  is  in  man's  nature,  when  we  consider  how  far 
Sympathy  leads — when  we  see  how  much  the  men  of  a  nation, 
even  those  that  strive  the  most  against  it,  are  formed  and  moulded 
into  the  National  Character,  we  may  be  inclined  to  consider  that 
it  is  perfectly  possible  that  the  Spiritual  Reason  should  be  capable 
of  development,  by  means  whereof  the  individual  is  utterly  uncon- 
scious that  they  are  means,  or  even  that  they  have  any  influence 
at  all  upon  himself  or  any  other. 

And  herein  do  I  consider  a  most  important  difference  to  exist 
between  the  Conscience  and  the  Spiritual  Reason, — that  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Conscience,  we  must  be  "conscious"  and  know  our 
own  act  in  order  to  profit  by  it;  but  with  reference  to  the 
Reason,  first,  we  may  act  upon  it  ourselves  Consciously;  and 
secondly,  others  without  our  knowledge  may  act  upon  it,  and 
form  it  in  us  of  their  purpose  and  knowledge,  without  our  being 
conscious  of  it. 

And  so  the  man  who,  with  fixed  mind,  has  trained  himself  in  the 
practice  of  the  truths  of  Eternal  Morality,  he  may  go  forth  into 
the  world  knowing  the  Inner  Treasure  and  the  Inner  Law  he  pos- 
sesses, and  feel  himself  rich  in  them.  And  not  less  rich  may  he  be 
who,  from  the  example  of  a  Holy  Home,  from  his  sympathy  with 
pious  relatives,  and  the  practice  of  religion,  has  developed  his  moral 
powers  unconsciously,  by  moral  action, — learning  moral  truth  by 
acting  upon  it,  and  being  taught  so  to  act,  and  yet  not  knowing 
it  as  teaching,  or  conscious  of  it  as  such,  until  brought  in  contact 
with  temptations  to  the  contrary  evils.  This  to  the  young  is  no 
small  blessing. 


THE  SPIRITUAL   REASON.  151 

But  with  regard  to  the  modes  of  training  and  developing  the 
Spiritual  Reason,  we  purpose  to  resume  the  discussion  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  III. 

There  are  two  states,  one  of  Consciousness  another  of  Unconsciousness. — To 
exhaust  man's  Consciousness  is  not  to  know  all  his  nature. — Unconscious 
teaching  of  moral  truth  exemplified. — Moral  application  of  this  and  grounds 
of  it. — The  Reason  may  receive  Spiritual  teaching  from  Spiritual  beings 
unconsciously. — Cultivation  of  the  Reason  produces,  first,  Moral  Harmony, 
secondly,  Moral  Progress. — Moral  teaching  of  Parents. — Viva  voce  teach- 
ing, its  power. — The  Spiritual  Reason  awakes  before  the  Mental  Power  is 
ripe. — Spiritual  truth  may  become  a  family  inheritance. — Application  to 
Parents  and  to  Children. — Cultivation  of  the  Reason  in  ourselves. — Perfec- 
tion of  the'  Reason. 

The  question  of  the  modes  of  exercising  the  Reason,  this  is  to 
be  the  object  of  the  present  chapter.  This  we  account  to  be  one 
of  the  most  important  in  all  the  range  of  Christian  Science.  We 
have  sho\m  that  the  Reason,  in  one  respect,  is  certainly  awakened 
unconsciously,  which  we  count  enough  to  enable  us  to  go  on  and 
advance  farther  upon  the  subject. 

Now  first,  we  will  remark  that  in  the  life  of  man  there  are  two 
states,  alternating  the  one  with  the  other,  the  state  of  Conscious- 
ness and  the  state  of  Unconsciousness ;  the  one  corresponding  gen- 
erally to  the  time  when  the  hemisphere  which  the  individual 
inhabits  is  presented  to  the  sun,  the  other  to  that  when  its  face  is 
withdrawn ;  waking  corresponding  with  the  light,  sleeping  with  the 
darkness.  We  are  Conscious  in  the  one,  Unconscious  in  the 
other.  These  two  are  separate  and  distinct  states  of  being,  each 
of  them  truly  and  really  belonging  unto  man,  each  being  a  portion 
of  the  circle  of  his  existence. 

The  Germans,  then,  in  their  examination  of  nature  and  mind, 
start  upon  a  ground  entirely  wrong  when  they  say,  "  when  we 
have  exhausted  that  which  is  in  mans  consciousness,  then  we  see 
the  whole  of  his  mind  and  the  whole  of  his  nature."     Herein  they 


152  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

blunder, — for  because  his  "Consciousness"  contains  a  great  deal, 
his  "Unconsciousness"  does  not  therefore  contain  absolutelt/ 
nothing.  The  negation  of  knowledge  about  it  does  not  imply  non- 
being  in  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  state,  a  very  peculiar  state, 
and  one  which  may  be  seen  to  be  necessary  for  our  physical  being ; 
and  which,  as  nature  is  one,  may  also  be  very  fairly  considered  as 
having,  if  we  only  could  adequately  discern  it,  in  itself  a  necessity 
for  our  mental  and  moral  nature.  And  so  it  may  possess  peculi- 
arities of  mental  action, — of  moral  and  spiritual  impression  and 
emotion,  which,  if  we  only  could  know  them,  would  be  of  the 
greatest  value  in  explaining  the  mysteries  of  our  being.  But  as 
we  cannot  know  them  by  Consciousness,  or,  indeed,  by  anything 
else  than  by  vague  speculation  on  facts  that  can  hardly  be  system- 
atized, we  will  not  press  this  thought  any  further  than  merely  to 
assert  that  the  philosophy  that  says,  "there  is  nothing  in  man's 
nature  that  is  not  in  man's  Consciousness,"  and  that  "to  exhaust 
our  consciousness  is  to  give  a  complete  view  of  mind,"  is  and  must 
be  false. 

For  men  have  gone  to  rest  with  the  determination  to  awake  at  a 
certain  hour,  and  their  minds,  unconscious,  and  by  no  action  of 
which  they  were  cognizant,  has,  in  their  sleep,  measured  time,  and 
at  the  appointed  hour  has  awakened  them.  Students  have  retired 
with  their  mind  set  upon  a  lesson  half-learned,  and  have  awakened 
with  it  wholly  understood.  Nay,  as  in  a  case  specified  ty  Rollin, 
the  anxious  mind,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  individual,  has 
awakened  his  body,  and  he  has  gone  through  the  whole  process  of 
composing  a  copy  of  Latin  verses  set  him  as  a  task,  as  well  as 
through  all  the  bodily  labor  of  dressing  himself,  looking  for  his 
desk  and  pens  and  ink,  and  writing ;  and  in  the  morning  he  has 
been  utterly  unconscious  of  it. 

Many  other  facts  might  be  brought  forward  to  show  the  fallacy 
of  the  German  fundamental,  that  "  we  are  to  search  in  our  con- 
sciousness for  a  complete  account  of  our  being ;"  and  to  show  that 
the  state  of  unconsciousness,  instead  of  being  a  state  of  blank 
negation,  is  a  state  of  mystery,  in  which  most  certainly  the  nature 
of  man,  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual,  is  at  all  times  alive  and 
capable  of  receiving  impressions,  and  unquestionably  is  many  times 
actively  and  energetically  at  work  when  we  know  it  not.  A  full 
and  complete  account,  then,  of  man's  mind  could  be  given  only  by 
cataloguing  and  classifying  the  phenomena  that  occur,  first,  in  the 


THE  SPIKITUAL  EEASON.  153 

mind  when  it  is  "conscious,"  and  secondly,  when  it  is  "uncon- 
scious." And  as  the  mind  of  man  is  regular,  and  his  nature  one, 
we  may  not  douht  that  as  we  call  one  set  of  waking  mental  actions 
"Memory,"  and  another  "  Reasoning,"  and  another  "  Sensation," 
so  if  we  could  penetrate  the  "  Unconscious"  state  of  our  neighbor's 
mind,  we  should  see  belonging  to  that  state  peculiar  modes  of 
action  and  impression  and  feeling  needing  to  be  classified  by  new 
names  and  a  new  Terminology.  And  therein  we  should  see  how 
it  comes  to  pass  that  all  theories  of  dreaming,  &c.,  are  so  imper- 
fect, being  solely  the  applying  to  one  state  of  mind  of  those  terms 
and  laws  applicable  not  to  it,  but  to  the  contrary  one ;  and  we  should 
learn,  at  least,  in  the  absence  of  all  means  of  penetrating  into  the 
"  Unconscious"  state,  to  be  a  little  more  cautious  in  theorizing. 

But  more  than  this,  we  assert  that  there  is  in  this  world,  even 
in  the  waking  man,  a  state  in  which  the  individual  is  taught,  and 
taught  in  the  most  efficient  and  powerful  way,  moral  principle  and 
moral  truths  unconsciously  to  himself;  and  that  acting  first,  he 
then  learns,  after  he  has  for  a  long  time  acted,  the  truth  and  ground 
of  action. 

We  look  upon  the  child  taken  by  his  parents  to  the  house  of  God, 
and  there,  by  the  principles  of  Sympathy,  Imitation,  and  Habit, 
acting  as  others  do,  and  feeling  as  others  feel,  to  be  thereby  learn- 
ing principles  without  knowing  it,  which  years  after  he  may  apply 
consciously,  with  full  knowledge  of  their  value. 

We  look  upon  the  father,  with  his  rightful  authority,  the  natural 
respect  that  he  claims,  and  natural  obedience  he  enforces ;  and  the 
mother,  with  her  maternal  love  and  her  sympathy  and  counsel,  as 
both  of  them  thereby  guiding  their  children  constantly  into  action, 
and  habitual  action,  of  which  the  children  cannot  fully  see  the 
principle  and  consequences ;  and  yet  by  action  so  enforced  upon 
them,  they  plant  in  them  that  principle  in  their  nature,  so  that  it 
really  exists  :  and  thus  children  receive  moral  and  religious  teach- 
ing of  which  they  are  perfectly  unconscious.  We  look,  too,  upon 
the  Nation  as  teaching  in  the  same  way,  unconsciously  ;  the  citi- 
zen, from  earliest  childhood,  being  trained  to  act  in  certain  ways 
and  habits  and  modes  of  thought  that  are  exclusively  national,  by 
means  of  habit,  sympathy,  national  pride,  and  all  those  influences 
which  are  comprised  in  what  we  call  the  Spirit  of  the  nation.  The 
Family  frames  and  moulds  the  child ;  the  Nation  frames  and  moulds 
the  citizen,  at  a  time  when  he  is  perfectly  unconscious  of  that 

20 


154  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

teaching ;  naj,  when  he  is  incapable  wholly  of  judging  or  of  exert- 
ing his  mental  powers,  we  will  not  say  against  it,  but  in  any  way. 
The  fact  is  a  plain  one,  and  we  -cannot  get  rid  of  it.  It  is  a  fact 
of  the  moral  position  of  man. 

Another  fact  is  equally  plain  in  Morals.  Get  a  man  to  act,  and 
act  habitually,  so  that  his  actions  shall  imply  a  principle,  although 
he  does  not  know  it,  and  that  shall  prepare  him  for  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  principle.  This  is  a  fact  realized  by  every  one,  so 
that  there  is  indeed  a  moral  teaching  that  is  unconscious,  as  well 
as  a  moral  teaching  that  is  conscious.  The  justice  and  grounds 
of  this  I  shall  now  proceed  to  examine,  and  they  rest  on  these  facts. 

First.  That  "  moral  truths  are  the  eternal  facts  of  God's  nature, 
not  factitious  or  arbitrary  notions,  but  the  same  for  all,  and 
immutable." 

Secondly.  That  "  man  has  a  faculty  made  expressly  for  the 
reception  of  these  truths,  which  corresponds  to  them  as  does  the 
bodily  appetite  to  food." 

And  thirdly.  That  "  there  are  peculiar  institutions  organized  to 
teach  them,  for  that  express  purpose — the  Family,  the  Nation, 
and  the  Church,  the  teachers  of  which  schools  teach  with  an  autho- 
rity which  they  possess  by  their  very  situation,  and  are  heard  with 
a  reverence  and  obedience  which  are  in  their  pupils  by  virtue  of 
their  position." 

This,  then,  I  say,  that  Parents  in  their  houses,  in  all  their 
actions,  are  teabhers ;  unconsciously  often  to  themselves,  uncon- 
sciously, at  the  .same  .time,  to  their  children.  The  Family  is  a 
school  in  which,  of  the  father  that  is  holy  and  good  and  true,  of 
the  mother  that  is  affectionate  and  loving,  there  is  not  an  act,  not 
a  word,  not  a  perceptible  emotion  that  does  not  teach ;  not  a  com- 
mand to  a  child  to  act  in  this  way  or  that,  even  although  that  child 
does  not  understand  the  principle  of  the  action,  that  is  not  a  teach- 
ing of  that  principle ;  and  that  this  is  so  because  of  the  nature  of 
the  things  taught,  because  of  his  nature  in  relation  to  them,  and 
because  of  the  nature  of  the  institution. 

There  is,  then,  a  peculiar  work  intended  to  be  done  by  certain 
and  peculiar  workmen,  and  not  by  others.*  And  ^his  is  a  work  that 
nature  gives  to  one  class  of  workmen,  the  training  in  religion  and 

*  There  is  another  religious  training  of  the  young  in  the  definite  and  dis- 
tinct doctrines  of  the  Faith  by  the  Clergy  in  the  Church.    Of  course  this  is 


THE  SPIRITUAL   REASON.  155 

morality  of  the  child  by  the  Father  and  by  the  Mother  in  the 
Home ;  and  it  is  capable  of  being  done  until  the  age  of  maturity  ; 
and  is  done  by  none  else  as  it  is  hy  them. 

Pious  Father  and  pious  Mother,  look  to  this  !  There  is  an  influ- 
ence, a  power,  an  authority  you  have,  ly  your  position^  over  your 
children.  You  can  give  it  or  delegate  it  to  none.  No  amount  of 
talents,  or  learning,  or  educational  ability,  or  personal  holiness 
can  give  to  another,  who  is  not  their  Parent^  the  power  that  you 
have  by  your  position  as  parent.  Although  your  lips  may  stam- 
mer and  your  knowledge  be  small,  still  from  you  to  them  (this  is 
the  rule  by  nature)  a  word  shall  be  as  a  kindling  flame,  as  an 
awakening  trumpet,  as  the  voice  of  doom,  as  the  infallible  oracles 
of  God.  A  gesture  shall  teach,  a  glance  of  the  eye  be  remem- 
bered for  a  life-time,  an  action  bidden  implant  a  principle. 

For  the  parent  in  his  home,  teaching  and  acting  upon  God's 
laws,  has  authority  which  none  else  has,  and  which  he  can  transfer 
to  none  else.  And  in  tlfe  heart  of  the  child  there  is  a  power,  the 
Spiritual  Reason,  whose  food  this  teaching  is,  and  which  is  adapted 
so  to  receive  it. 

And  upon  this  ground,  the  ground  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  and 
its  peculiar  powers,  we  warn  parents,  whoever  may  be  the  teacher 
of  their  children  in  other  things,  themselves  to  take  a  share  in  the 
religious  and  moral  education  of  their  own  children  at  home  ;  for 
they  by  their  position,  by  the  nature  of  Divine  Truth,  and  the 
faculty  that  receives  it,  can  do  what  none  else  can  do,  and  teach 
as  none  else  can  teach. 

And  the  same  we  say  with  regard  to  the  Magistrate — ^his  posi- 
tion is  a  natural  position  of  authority ;  the  position  of  the  ordinary 
citizen  towards  the  Magistrate  is  by  his  very  situation  a  position 
of  obedience  to  him  as  the  executor  of  the  Law.  The  Magistrate's 
actions,  therefore,  unconsciously  teach;  the  acts  he  does  have  in 
themselves  a  significance  that  is  powerful  to  the  heart  of  men,  that 
awakens  in  them  knowledge  and  principle.  And  none  can  take  the 
Magistrate  s  place,  none  can  do  the  work  he  has  to  do,  and  make 
the  impression  that  he  has  to  make  but  himself.  And  this  not  simply 
because  "we  the  majority  will  support  him,"  but  because  of  his 

not  excluded  by  the  assertion  in  the  text.  A  series  of  similar  remarks  may 
be  made  upon  it,  as  to  its  teachers,  its  faculty,  and  its  material  of  instruction. 
The  student  may  follow  this  hint  out  for  himself 


166  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

position,  and  the  nature  of  that  position  in  a  divine  organization, 
the  State,  which  cannot  fail. 

But  we  shall  follow  this  out  still  further.  Our  reader  will  re- 
member that  the  "Animal  Understanding"  is  especially  the  sense 
of  the  Visible,  of  those  perceptions  that  come  from  the  senses,  and 
of  the  ideas  that  are  derivable  from  them,  that  the  Reason  is  the 
faculty  of  the  "Unseen,"  the  "Infinite,"  the  "Spiritual,"  these 
which  are  not  perceptible  by  the  senses.  Let  him  then  think  that 
close  by  us  is  the  "  Spiritual  World"  ;  that  in  it  we  live,  and  that 
in  it  besides  facts  that  are  Spiritual,  there  are  beings  and  persona 
that  are  so  also.  Then  may  he  think  that  the  faculty  of  the  Un- 
seen may  receive  instruction  from  Him  who  is  Unseen  and  them 
who  are  Unseen,  and  thus  unconsciously  the  faculty  of  the  Infinite 
be  taught  by  those  who  do  not  exist  in  Time  and  Space ;  the  things 
of  Eternity  and  Immortality  be  taught  to  us  by  beings  eternal  and 
immortal,  directly  acting  and  influencing  us  immediately,  und  yet 
not  felt  consciously;  the  faculty  of  the  Spiritual  from  Spiritual 
beings  draws  Spiritual  sustenance. 

Sincerely  do  I  believe  that  moral  teaching,  yea,  that  moral 
teaching  which  is  the  very  highest  and  most  efiective,  may  be  un- 
conscious, when  I  see  that  the  highest  agencies  to  which  we  are 
handed  over  by  our  Baptism  in  the  Church  of  God  are  invisible ; 
that  their  instructive  influence,  working  upon  us  most  decidedly 
and  most  efiectually,  is  yet  wholly  imperceptible  to  the  senses,  and 
incapable  of  being  brought  to  direct  Consciousness. 

By  this  train,  therefore,  of  argument  and  elucidation,  I  consider 
that  I  am  sufficiently  authorized  to  divide  moral  instruction  of  the 
Reason  into  the  "  Conscious"  and  the  "  Unconscious." 

Having  thus  come  so  far,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  good  to  enter 
into  an  examination  of  the  modes  of  teaching ;  but  there  are  other 
preliminary  questions  to  be  investigated  previous  to  entering  upon 
this.  And  these  are,  first,  "theefi'ect  of  a  development  of  the 
Reason  upon  man."  And  secondly,  the  actual  state  in  which  Rea- 
son is  by  means  of  "  Original  Sin." 

The  first  of  these  questions,  therefore,  we  shall  first  examine, 
that  is,  the  efiect  of  a  development  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  upon 
the  mind  and  character  of  the  individual  man.  Now,  we  have 
Bhown  that  the  Reason  is,  as  it  were,  the  mirror  of  God  in  man, 
so  that  as  the  image  of  the  sun  is  reflected  in  the  mirror  and  re- . 
duced,  so  in  the  finite  man  does  the  Reason  receive  the  image  of 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  167 

(Jod,  and  confer  upon  that  which  is  finite  the  proportion  of  the 
Infinite. 

And  secondly,  that  in  the  Reason  awakens  by  cultivation  the 
sense  of  God's  attributes,  which  in  him  are  the  glorious  realities 
of  His  being,  and  to  us  are  the  eternal  and  immutable  laws  of 
morality.  The  two  efiects,  then,  I  conceive  of  a  cultivation  of  the 
Reason  to  be,  first,  the  establishment  in  the  man  of  "  Moral  Har- 
mony" ;  and  second,  a  constant  and  perpetual  Moral  Progress  in 
him,  a  constant  and  increasing  advance  in  all  things  that  are  like 
unto  God. 

And  the  measure  of  these  is  in  no  standard  established  by  the 
Society  wherein  we  live,  or  by  our  own  opinion,  nor  by  the  Rea- 
son itself ;  but  solely  in  God  and  his  Eternal  Attributes,  the  stand- 
ard is  whereby  we  measure  our  advance. 

And  though  our  Nation  should  establish  another,  and  by  an 
unanimous  decree  assert  it  though  philosophers  should  prove  and 
demonstrate  it  in  the  most  eloquent  and  convincing  way ;  still  the 
invariable  institutions  of  Society,  and  the  instinctive  feeling  of 
man's  Reason,  shall  manifest  to  him  that  of  the  "Moral  Har- 
mony" in  the  man,  and  of  his  "Moral  Progress,"  there  is  no 
other  model, — ^no  standard,  no  means  of  advance,  other  than  God 
and  His  Law. 

With  regard  to  this  which  I  have  called  "Moral  Harmony," 
when  a  man  calmly  and  considerately  looks  at  his  own  moral 
nature,  he  shall  see  that  the  first  stirring  of  which  we  call  the  Spi- 
ritual Reason  in  him  by  nature,  was  the  sense  and  feeling  of  the 
want  of  "Moral  Harmony"  in  all  his  powers  of  Body,  Soul, 
and  Spirit, — the  sense  and  feeling  of  the  want  (not  merely  defi- 
ciency, which  is  one  kind  of  want,  or  desire,  which  is  another  want, 
but  both  together,)  of  an  inner  proportion  of  the  facts  of  his  whole 
nature ;  a  feeling  of  incongruity  and  disjointedness,  in  which,  recog- 
nizing clearly  that  there  are  in  him  the  elements  of  one  harmonious 
unity,  he  feels  that  these  elements  are  all  in  a  state  of  chaos, — a 
threefold  feeling  that  his  nature  has  a  laWj  and  is  not  yet  obedient 
to  that  law,  but  ought  so  to  be. 

This  feeling  of  Insubordination,  there  is  no  man  that  has  not 
felt,  the  aspiration  it  is  after  unity  of  action  in  our  nature,  or 
what  w»  have  called  "  Moral  Harmony."  The  feeling  is  one  that 
arises  in  almost  all,  and  as  the  "sense  of  Responsibility"  is  the 
peculiar  and  instinctive  fe/s-liag  of  the  first  of  the  governing 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE.        T» 

powers,  the  "  Conscience,"  so  this  is  that  peculiar  to  the  Spiritual 
Reason.  The  one  says,  "Oh!  that  I  could  abstain  from  that 
which  is  evil,  and  which  my  conscience  tells  me  to  be  so,  then 
should  I  be  good," — the  other  says,  "Oh!  that  my  nature  in 
thought,  and  word,  and  deed,  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  were  ruled 
by  one  Law,  its  own  inner  law,  then  should  my  nature  be  as  it 
ought  to  be." 

And  then  this  feeling  of  the  want  of  Law  from  internal  search- 
ing, turns  the  mind  externally,  and  everywhere  to  the  man  the 
same  lesson  is  repeated.  Society  speaks  to  him  of  Law :  all  things 
that  meet  his  eye  or  his  mind,  suggest  Law,  Proportion,  Harmony 
of  manifold  parts,  working  in  unity  of  end  and  object.  The  most 
ignorant  and  uneducated  sees  it  and  acts  upon  it,  and  the  deepest 
natural  philosopher,  the  further  he  goes  the  more  he  feels  the  pre- 
sence in  all  things  of  Law.  In  man's  nature  only  seems  to  be 
the  want  of  it,  and  this  is  combined  in  him  with  the  deepest  esti- 
mation  of  its  uses  and  its  necessity. 

Now  to  him  who  shall  ask  wherein  the  Reason  in  man  is  affected 
by  Original  Sin,  or  wherein  it  manifests  itself,  let  him  look  at 
this  desire  of  Moral  Harmony,  this  sense  of  its  want,  this  desire 
towards  it,  and  this  exceeding  conviction  of  its  necessity ;  and  then 
let  him  consider,  at  the  same  time,  the  internal  conviction  that  the 
healing  power  is  not  in  or  of  man's  own  nature, — there  he  shall  find 
Original  Sin  in  the  first  of  its  effects  upon  the  Reason.  He  shall 
find  that  that  faculty,  which  ought  clearly  and  distinctly  to  repro- 
duce in  man,  the  finite  creature  of  clay  and  the  dust,  the  moral  pro- 
portions, if  I  may  use  the  phrase,  of  the  Infinite  and  Immortal  God, 
and  thereby  rule  by  His  Law  all  elements  of  man's  being  ; — this 
divine  faculty  is  reduced  to  the  state  of  natural  inability,  which . 
I  have  before  illustrated.* 

Again,  the  consequence  of  a  cultivation  of  the  Divine  Reason 
from  the  previous  examination,  our  reader  shall  see  to  be  an 
awaking,  as  it  were,  of  his  "Moral  Apprehension,"  his  "Moral 
Feeling,"  and  his  "  Moral  Principle,"  to  the  truths  of  God's  Being 
as  eternal  truths  of  morality.  He  looks  and  sees  the  very  word 
awaking, — implies  previous  blindness  to  those  truths, — he  can  see 
also  that  by  nature,  apart  from  Society,  man's  blindness  was  total, 

*  With  regard  to  "  Insubordination  of  Natural  Powers,"  and  "  Moral  Ina- 
bility," as  effects  of  Original  Sin,  see  the  First  Book. 


THE   SPIRITUAL  REASON.  159 

and  that  even  in  man  existing  in  Society,  there  is  more  or  less 
blindness  or  insensibility,  even  to  the  most  striking  and  the  most 
conviQcing  trnths.  The  exemplification  of  this,  the  reader  will 
find  under  the  articles  upon  "  Moral  Apprehension,"  "Moral Feel- 
ing," and  "Moral  Principle."  The  eflFect,  then,  of  "Original 
Sin  "  upon  our  Reason,  may  be  put  down  as  secondly,  "  Moral 
Blindness,"  or  the  incapacity  of  the  mind  in  our  present  fallen 
state  for  apprehending ,  feeling,  and  applying  to  action  moral 
truths. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  question  of  the  means 
of  cultivation  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  subjects  previously  dis- 
cussed having  been,  as  the  reader  may  see,  absolutely  and  entirely 
necessary  to  the  examination  of  it.  There  are  manifestly  in  this, 
two  distinct  divisions, — the  cultivation  of  it  in  ourselves  first, 
and  then  in  others, — these,  for  the  most  part,  we  shall  discuss 
together. 

Now,  according  to  the  principles  above  stated,  the  most  efficient 
and  most  perfect  teaching,  is  that  of  the  Teaching  Institutions, 
embracing,  as  we  have  shown,  instruction  so  completely  in  its 
whole  circle,  that  even  acts  not  meant  to  teach,  yet  shall  teach. 
So  mat  the  Father  and  the  Mother,  the  Magistrate,  the  Clergy- 
man, these  of  the  Reason  in  the  Family,  the  Nation,  and  the 
Church,  are  the  best  Moral  Teachers, — teaching  consciously,  and 
also  teaching  unconsciously. 

The  power  of  their  conscious  teaching,  seeing  it  is  addressed  to 
a  peculiar  faculty,  which  is  adapted  to  receive  peculiar  truths, 
'peculiarly  apprehended,  manifestly  shall  depend  upon  their  hav- 
ing themselves  those  truths,  so  apprehended,  and  so  addressing 
them. 

Let  the  father,  for  instance,  as  a  matter  of  feeling  and  of  faith, 
with  his  heart  and  soul  apprehend  the  fact  that  "  God  is,"  and 
that  truth  so  apprehended  seems,  because  of  his  feeling  and  faith, 
easy  to  be  spiritually  apprehended  by  the  child.  The  same  truth 
addressed,  without  any  apprehension  on  the  father's  part,  shall 
make  no  impression  upon  the  spiritual  power  of  Moral  Apprehen- 
sion, whatever  it  may  upon  the  mental  faculty. 

Again,  we  shall  find  that  of  the  "Conscious  Teaching"  of 
parents  the  truth  must  be  peculiar.  There  shall  be  no  difference 
between  the  teaching  of  the  parent  in  Arithmetic  and  the  teaching 
of  any  one  else  in  the  same ;  but  there  shall  be  a  vast  difference, 


160  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE.  " 

admitting  both  to  be  in  earnest,  in  matters  of  Religious  Faith. 
Therein  the  parent,  as  we  have  noted,  shall  teach  hy  a  word  what 
others  cannot  hy  the  labor  of  a  day. 

And  truths  of  the  Gospel  shall  have  a  capability  of  being  taught, 
.  that  falsehoods  have  not;  for  instance,  that  God -is  most  merciful, 
or  that  there  is  an  eternal  punishment :  this  the  parent  shall 
teach  the  child  easily,  but  "  that  God, /or  his  mere  will  and  pleas- 
ure, pre-doomed,  irrevocably,  an  unborn  man,  millions  of  years 
before  his  birth,  to  eternal  hell,  and  that  for  his  own  glory,'' — this 
notion  shall  very  hardly  be  taught  by  parent  to  child,  because  it 
is  so  far  from  being  a  truth  of  the  Eternal  and  Infinite  God,  that 
it  is  utterly  contradictory  to  all  we  know  of  God,  and  utterly  ab- 
horrent to  His  nature.* 

Again,  they  must  be  addressed  to  the  peculiar  power  suited  for 
their  reception,  not  to  any  other.  A  mere  assertion  on  the  part 
of  father  or  mother  of  an  eternal  and  immutable  truth  in  which  he 
or  she  earnestly  believes,  in  love  to  the  child,  this,  as  before  noted, 
shall  convey  that  truth  to  the  Spiritual  Apprehension  of  the  child : 
let  them  set  themselves  to  prove  it,  as  Paley  does,  to  demonstrate 
it,  and  then  they  address  to  the  mental  powers  that  which  should 
be  addressed  to  the  spiritual  faculties,  and  the  immediate  efiect  is 
to  close  the  mind  against  it. 

To  complete  these  remarks  upon  the  "  Conscious  Teaching"  of 
the  Parent,  I  shall  adduce  one  or  two  other  things  that,  from  my 
own  observation,  I  have  noticed ;  and  the  first  is,  that  "  in  in- 
struction of  a  moral  kind  from  parent  to  child,  there  is  an  extras 
ordinary  power  in  ^vivd  voce'  teaching  above  all  booh  instruction  ;" 
so  much  so,  indeed,  that  it  would  almost  seem  that  the  same 
truths,  in  the  same  words,  being  taught  by  reading,  lose  the  power 
of  being  morally  felt  and  apprehended,  and  being  spoTcen,  have  it 
— as  if  divine  truth  could  be  conveyed  in  its  fulness  only  by  the 
living  voice  of  affection  and  faith.     But  that  the  being  read,  in 

*  These  extreme  and  harsh  notions,  preached  of  old  by  that  peculiar  class 
called  Supralapsarians,  are  not,  I  believe,  held  now  by  almost  any  of  the  very 
respectable  denominations  that  call  themselves  "  Calvinistic."  They  have 
modified  the  system  by  other  elements,  and  soothed  and  softened  such  asperi- 
ties as  this  is.  In  fact  I  believe  the  bold  and  harsh  declaration  in  the  text  ia 
Buch  that  it  could  only  be  made  hundreds  of  years  ago,  in  a  foreign  land,  by 
men  frenzied  with  Papal  persecution,  and  fighting  vehemently  against  Papal 
man-worship,  and  Bomish  ideas  of  human  merit. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  161 

some  measure,  should  interpose  a  non-conductor,  so  that  only  the 
mental  statement  is  received,  and  not  the  spiritual  influence.  I 
cannot  account  for  the  fact,  but  I  can,  by  a  long  experience,  see 
that  it  is  so.  In  the  moral  teaching  of  parent  to  child,  there  is  a 
force  in  "viva  voce"  instruction  which  no  printed  lesson  has. 

Again,  another  remark  I  shall  make  is  this,  that  in  the  child 
the  Spiritual  Reason  is  awake  and  acting  long  before  the  mental 
powers — I  will  not  say  are  ripe,  but  before  they  begin  to  act  with 
any  degree  of  perceptible  effect.  The  mother  who,  under  these 
conditions  above  specified,  shall  try  it  with  regard  to  her  baptized* 
child,  shall  often  find  it  so  ;  shall  find  that  of  the  things  of  the  Infi- 
nite and  the  Spiritual,  there  is  an  apprehension  and  a  power  of 
Knowledge  and  Obedience  long  before  that  mental  faculty,  f  whose 
instructor  is  experience,  shall  have  reached  to  anything  like  ripe- 
ness of  its  powers. 

A  third  remark  is  this,  that  the  formation  of  character  depends 
mainly  upon  the  development  in  youth  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  as 
to  its  appreciation  of  Divine  Truth,  its  unconscious  developmentj 
or,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  its  institutional  development  by 
the  Parent  in  the  Family.  The  Sense  of  Veracity,  for  instance, 
or  of  Justice,  or  of  Benevolence,  or  of  Honor,  or  of  Purity,  when 
awakened  in  the  Reason,  in  the  family,  under  the  moral  tuition  of 
the  parent,  shall  become,  as  it  were,  an  element  of  the  being  of  the 
individual,  and  a  plastic  principle  whose  close  adherence  to  his 
nature  shall  frame  and  mould  him  to  a  higher  harmony  and  a 
nobler  type  of  existence  than  otherwise  the  man  could  have  at- 
tained. And  the  moral  character  so  formed  shall  be  calm  and 
tranquil  and  self-possessed  ;  it  shall  be  living  and  fresh,  and  free 
from  the  affectation  and  the  tendency  to  grotesque  extremes  that 
now  usually  ipursues  those  who,  by  themselves,  attain  to  an  insight 
into  any  moral  truth  higher  than  those  around  them  hold,  and  then 
try  to  realize  it  and  carry  it  out  in  their  lives  and  actions. 

To  the  parent  then,  we  may  say :  "  Here  is  a  sphere  wherein, 
by  means  of  God's  ordinance,  you  are  placed,  in  which  your  posi- 
tion makes  you  a  moral  teacher,  addressing  the  highest  faculty, 

*I  say  "baptized  child,"  inasmuch  as  a  human  being  who  is  really  in 
covenant  with  God,  whether  Adult  or  Infant,  in  reference  to  "  the  things 
unseen  that  fade  not  away,"  and  the  "  powers  of  the  world  to  come,"  is  in  a 
quite  different  position  from  him  who  is  not  within  the  covenant. 

t  The  Understanding,  a  logical  or  reasoning  power. 

21  'i. 


162  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  gives  your  slightest  word  a  weight  that  your  weighticvSt  ex- 
hortations and  most  vehement  and  energetic  efforts  cannot  have 
out  of  it,  and  makes  even  your  unconscious  actions  means  and 
elements  of  instruction,  ffere,  then,  remember  is  your  great  influ- 
ence ;  here,  your  formative  power  :  before  all  things  the  duties  of 
this  sphere  must  be  done,  and  if  neglected,  then  the  consequences 
are,  within  the  same  sphere,  evils  and  keen  misery  such  as  many 
Parents  have  endured  and  lamented. 

And  for  the  child,  let  him  know  that  the  station  of  a  Father  or 
a  mother  is  of  itself  to  be  viewed  with  the  deepest  reverence,  not 
merely  because  of  character  or  mental  power  or  influence,  but 
because  of  their  position  as  Father  and  Mother.  Let  the  child 
know,  then,  that  the  first  of  all  injuries  to  himself  is  to  rise  against 
that  influence,  to  rebel  against  it,  to  scorn  and  despise  parents. 
And  that  it  comes  not  merely  from  the  Providence  of  God,  or  from 
his  threatenings  in  Holy  Scripture,  that  the  child  so  doing  shall 
be  unhappy  in  life  and  unsuccessful,  but  from  the  law  we  have 
specified  whereby  the  Spiritual  Reason  of  the  father  is  made  the 
ruler,  former  and  teacher  of  the  Reason  of  the  child,  the  one  as 
central,  and  the  other  as  revolving  around  it. 

And  as  'if  a  planet  could  be  supposed  endued  with  rational 
powers  and  will,  and  to  desire  freedom  from  the  forces  that  cause 
it  to  revolve  around  the  sun  ;  the  accomplishment  of  that  wish ' 
would  be  the  whirling  of  it  off  to  the  abyss  of  ruin,  and  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  desire  would  be  of  itself  destruction :  so  it  is  by  the 
natural  law  of  the  case  with  the  Child  towards  the  Parent ;  the 
nature  of  the  act  makes  the  nature  of  the  consequences,  and  the 
denunciations  of  the  Scripture  are  prophecies  of  them. 

We  have  made  these  observations  so  much  at  length,  because 
■we  believe  that  the  mass  of  the  moral  delinquencies  in  Society,  as 
well  as  the  deterioration  which  we  see  very  rapidly  taking  place  in 
many  classes,  arises  from  the  neglect  of  this,  the  Institutional 
Education  and  training  of  the  Reason  by  Parents  in  their  proper 
sphere.  And  therefore  we  have  set  forth  the  law  and  the  grounds 
and  consequences  of  it,  perhaps,  a  little  more  amply  than  we  other- 
wise would,  in  proportion  to  the  other  parts  of  our  work,  have  done. 

Tho  same  doctrine  in  reference  to  the  State  and  to  the  Church, 
vre  shall  only  say  applies  in  the  same  way  in  regard  to  the  pecu- 
liar ideas  which  it  is  the  intent  of  these  schools  to  awaken  and 
train  in  man;  the  ideas,  namely,  that  concern  "right  toman" 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  163 

and  "  duty  to  God."    We  leave  them,  therefore,  to  the  student  to 
develope  for  himself. 

Having  gone  so  far  in  the  examination  of  the  Spiritual  Reason, 
it  now  remains  to  show  the  best  modes  of  exercising  it,  and  bringing 
it  to  perfection  in  ourselves,  as  we  have  in  others.  Remembering, 
then,  that  the  modes  of  its  action  are  "Moral  Apprehension,"* 
"  Moral  Feeling,"  "  Moral  Principle,"  and  supposing  that  hitherto 
the  individual  has  lived  by  chance,  loitering  along  the  pathway  of 
life,  without  moral  cultivation  from  himself  or  moral  attention  to 
his  own  state,  "how  shall  he  begin?"  Suppose  that  his  Spiritual 
Reason  is  so  blunted,  that  as  an  animal  his  mind  is  occupied  only 
with  animal  pleasures,  and  that  the  Highest  Good,  in  his  estima- 
tion, is  so  far  from  being  any  of  the  goods  of  the  Spiritual  and 
the  Infinite,  that  it  is  altogether  of  Time  and  Sense ;  so  that 
"truth"  to  him  is  nothing,  and  "holiness"  and  "purity"  nothing, 
and  "justice"  nothing,  but  "names  and  words  invented  by  dreamers 
which  wise  men  use  to  govern  them  with,  but  which  no  man  per- 
mits to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  own  interest  when  he  safely  can  do 
it."*  Suppose  he  take  "all  men  to  be  rascals  if  they  durst,"* 
"  Each  man  to  have  his  price,"*  "  all  virtue  to  be,  at  bottom  only 
selfishness";*  in  other  words,  suppose  his  Spiritual  Reason  to  be 
utterly  uncultivated,  (as  far  as  God  permits  it  to  be  so,)  and  utterly 
blind.  And  yet  should  the  man, — ^hearing  the  assertion,  or  we  will 
say  reading  it  in  this  very  book,  that  there  are  Spiritual  Truths 
that  are  realities — that  there  is  a  spiritual  sense  of  them  that 
may  be  awakened — as  a  blind  man  should  hear  of  the  sun,  and 
moon,  and  stars,  and  of  the  sense  that  perceives  them, — then 
honestly  desire  that  in  him  that  sense  might  be  awakened,  and 
those  truths  by  him  perceived — how  should  he  proceed  f 

I  answer,  there  being  three  modes  of  the  operation  of  the  Rea- 
son in  reference  to  any  moral  quality,  "  Justice,"  we  will  say,  or 
"Benevolence,"  or  "Honesty,"  he  is  not  to  begin  by  an  endea- 
vour to  sharpen  and  excite  by  mental  means  his  apprehension  of 
that  quality,  for  this  will  not  bring  it  about.  Reading  about  it, 
even  in  the  most  sincere  and  ardent  way — ^this  is  so  far  from  pro- 
ducing Moral  Apprehension  that  it  may  blunt  it,  and  even  in  some 

*  All  these  are  sayings  of  worldly-wise  men,  who  no  doubt  drew  them  from 
Bolf-experience. 


!QM>  GHBISTIAN  SCIENCE.      : 

men  it  may  altogether  eradicate  moral  principle.  This,  then,  mil 
not  do.* 

Again :  he  may  think  that  by  bringing  himself  in  contact  with 
**  circumstances"  that  shall  excite  the  emotion,  and  cultivating /ge?- 
ing  upon  the  particular  virtue  or  moral  quality — that  he  can  so 
stimulate  the  growth  as  thereby  to  cultivate  the  Reason  in  the 
highest  degree.  This  ends  in  a  stimulability  of  the  feeling,  a 
resting  in  that  feeling,  an  unreality  which  every  one  that  is  honest 
and  true  can  see ;  and  may  terminate  not  in  moral  growth  of  the 
affection,  but  in  the  mental  and  literary  affectation  of  extreme  sen- 
sibility. Such  has  often  been  the  case  with  those  who  have  begun 
sincerely  to  cultivate  the  Moral  Power  by  the  way  of  exciting  their 
own  feelings  or  their  mental  powers. 

I  have  before  said  that  in  moral  progress  the  Conscience,  and  a 
fixed  determination  to  follow  it  must  be  always  the  first  step. 
Supposing,  then,  this  step  to  have  been  taken  by  the  individual, 
I  say,  let  him  try  in  the  way  of  principle  ;  that  is  to  say,  let  him 
take  that  moral  principle,  of  whose  power  he  may  be  utterly  igno- 
rant, may  neither  feel  nor  apprehend  it,  let  him  take  it  into  life  as 
a  rule,  a  principle  of  life.  He  has  hitherto  not  cheated,  because 
of  divers  and  sundry  advantages  which  not  to  cheat  brings  him ; 
let  him  set  aside  the  " advantages"  and  their  result  the  non- 
cheating,  and  establish  for  himself  as  a  law  of  life  internal,  affected 
by  no  external  circumstances  whatsoever,  but  measuring  them  all, 
honesty.  And  if  for  a  day  he  act  upon  it,  if  for  a  day  he  use  it 
as  2i, principle,  if  but  for  a  day  it  be  made  a  "governing  princi- 
ple," so  that  it  rule,  secondly,  "rule  always,"  and  thirdly,  "that 
it  rule  according  to  its  law,"  as  I  have  expounded  with  regard  to 
the  principle  of  the  "  governing  powers  :"  if  this  principle  to 
which  he  was  we  will  say  in  the  morning  utterly  blind  and  insen- 
sible, be  willingly  and  steadfastly  adopted  for  one  day  as  an  inner 
'"'•rule"  swaying  and  hearing  swpremacy  over  circumstances:  if 
he  act  so  for  a  single  day,  then,  before  the  day  is  over,  his  appre- 
hension of  it  shall  be  more  or  less  opened — his  feeling  of  it  awak- 
ened, his  power  to  act  upon  it  as  a  rule  increased  very  perceptibly. 
The  acting  upon  Principle,  not  feeling  or  arguing,  is  the  way 
wherein,  as  regards  ourselves,  we  are  to  cultivate  the  Spiritual 
Keason. 

*  See  upon  this  subject  the  Chapter  upon  Habit,  in  Book  IV.  ; 


''  THE  SPIRITUAL   REASON.  165 

And  wBen  the  tliree  powers  or  modes  of  the  Spiritual  Reason 
are  brought,  all  of  them,  into  action  under  the  condition  that  it 
should  rule ;  secondly,  should  rule  always,  and  thirdly,  should  rule 
according  to  its  law ;  then  the  result  upon  the  character  is  the 
gradual  growth  of  that  "Moral  Harmony"  that  we  have  spoken 
of;  that  internal  law  whereby  the  mind  is  governed  and  ruled,  so 
that  it  is  uniform  with  itself :  and  there  is  no  jar,  no  sense  of  dis- 
agreement, but  all  the  powers  work  on  together  equably ;  the 
manifold  workings  of  the  powers  and  parts  of  the  whole  nature, 
the  body,  soul  and  spirit,  all  consciously  uniting  in  harmony  of 
action  : — this  is  the  completion  and  perfection  of  the  Reason,  and 
it  is  brought  about  by  the  Reason  as  a  governing  power,  guiding 
its  own  operation  or  workings  according  to  its  laws. 

This  question,  then — what  is  the  Law  of  the  Reason  ?  manifestly 
ehall  complete  our  examination  of  the  subject,  and  show  the  per- 
fection of  nature  as  far  as  this  faculty  is  concerned.  This  shall  be 
the  subject  of  the  next  chapter.      ^.^^^  X^'^'-phx^s^''''^^~^' 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  highest  law  of  Reason  is  not  Nature,  nor  the  law  of  the  Family,  or  of  the 
Nation,  but  the  Faith  of  Christ, — and  this  in  a  three-fold  view. — 1st,  as 
written;  2ndly,  as  enforced  by  the  Church  and  in  the  Church;  3dly,  as 
dwelling  in  the  hearts  of  the  Sanctified. — Other  practical  inferences. — The 
source  of  fanaticism  is  in  denying  its  food  to  this  faculty. — Practical  con- 
clusions.— Exhortation  to  those  who  are  the  teachers  of  this  faculty  to  teach 
without  fear. 

We  have  now  examined  the  subject  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  with 
the  exception  of  its  "Law"  and  its  results;  that  is  to  say,  that 
"  Law,"  by  which,  according  to  the  third  principle  of  the  governing 
powers  laid  down  in  the  First  Book,  it  may  be  brought  to  the 
highest  practical  perfection  in  the  man ;  and  secondly,  the  effect 
and  consequence  upon  man's  nature  of  that  perfect  operation  of 
the  faculty,  which  we  have  indicated  as  "  Moral  Harmony  and 
Moral  Progress." 


166  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

To  enter,  then,  into  the  examination  of  these  two  subjects,  and 
fully  to  consider  them,  this  will  complete  the  discussion  of  the 
Reason. 

We  are  now  to  seek  the  law  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  and  as  a 
.  guide  in  this,  the  reader  will  please  bear  in  mind  the  principle  be- 
fore maintained,  "  that  no  governing  Power  can  be  a  law  to 
itself."  He  will  also  remember,  that  it  is  not  a  "law"  of  the 
Reason  we  seek,  but  "  the  supreme  Law  of  the  Reason,^  that  which 
will  embrace  and  in  itself  contain  all  others,  the  Law  emphatically. 

For  to  him  that  has  been  separated  from  all  Society, — ^by  the 
very  fact  of  the  harmony  that  goes  through  the  whole  world,  and 
the  analogy  that  all  things  have  to  one  another,  and  the  spiritual 
meaning  that  they  bear,  this  the  external  harmony  of  Nature  shall 
become  a  law  to  his  Reason, — shall  interpret  itself  with  a  mani- 
fold significance,  and  shall  be  an  awakener  of  ■  the  Moral  Appre- 
hension, the  Moral  Feeling,  and  "  the  Moral  Principle  "  in  him. 
Thus  Nature  shall  be  a  law,  and  to  him,  if  he  have  none  other,  the 
highest  law  and  bounden  therefore  upon  him. 

Again,  to  him  that  is  in  the  first  form  of  Society,  the  "  Family," 
where  there  is  no  Nation  nor  Church,  to  him  the  law  of  the 
**  Family,"  enforcing  itself  upon  his  actions,  is  a  law  of  the  Rea- 
Bon,  and,  as  we  have  shown,  will,  from  the  primeval  revelation, 
bring  him  knowledge,  and  enforce  in  him,  even  unconsciously, 
action  that  developes  the  Reason.  This,  then,  becomes  to  him  a 
higher  Law  than  that  of  Nature,  with  higher  knowledge,  which 
does  not  supersede  the  other,  but  makes  it,  as  it  were,  weightier 
and  broader:  so  that  what  was  the  sole  law  is  now  associated 
^th  another,  and  transfers  to  it  so  far  its  supreme  authority,  be- 
coming itself  an  auxiliary. 

Again,  the  man  is  a  member  of  a  Nation — and  then  to  his  Spi- 
ritual Reason  there  are  three  laws, — the  one  of  the  harmony  and 
analogy  of  nature,  the  other  of  the  Family, — and  the  one  that  is 
to  him  the  supreme  Law  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  law  of  the 
Nation.  Not  simply  its  enacted  or  statute  law,  but  its  "  Univer- 
sal Law,"  its  "  Common  Law,"  everything  that  dwells  in  the  uni- 
versal consciousness  of  the  nation,  as  a  general  rule  of  action  and 
governmeift  for  all  men  of  that  Race,  and  Nation,  and  Country ; 
and  this,  then,  shall  be  to  the  man  the  Supreme  Law  of  his 
Reason. 

It  will  be  seen  that  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  analogy  and 


THE  SPIBITUAL  REASON.  IjS^ 

harmony  of  nature  teaches  so  far  the  truths  of  Eternal  Morality, 
— ^that  the  law  and  knowledge  of  the  Family  teaches  the  same, — 
and  the  law  of  the  Nation,  even  of  pagan  nations,  the  same.* 

This  may  he  manifestly  seen  from  the  fact  that  whatsoever  "Law" 
prescribes  anywhere,  it  prescribes  it  as  good,  and  it  is  bad  by^ 
ignorance,  "corruption,"  "mistake,"  "misapprehension,"  or  by 
stepping  out  of  its  sphere,  but  not  by  intention^  or  by  its  nature^ 
And  everywhere  it  has  a  corrective  in  that  which  it  supersedes,  for 
it  cannot  contradict,  only  confirm. 

But  higher  and  higher  as  these  laws  go  from  the  outward  har- 
mony of  Nature,  up  to  the  law  of  the  Family,  and  from  it  to  the 
law  of  the  Nation,  a'  higher  law  still  is  to  be  sought,  in  a  more 
complete  and  perfect  declaration  of  God's  Nature  and  Will, — that 
is  to  say,  in  the  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  institution  of  hig 
Church,  the  Regenerating  power  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  In  His 
truth  and  His  light,  it  is  to  be  sought:  "I  am,"  he  says,  "the 
way,  the  truth,  the  lifej  no  one  cometh  to  the  Father  but  by 
me."t 

This,  then,  is  the  highest  law  of  the  Reason,  the  supreme  one, 
that  which  does  not  destroy  the  other  laws  of  the  reason,  but  con- 
firms them  all  and  agrees  with  them  all,  while  itself  is  supreme  in 
authority  over  all, — the  Faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  take  "the  Faith  "  for  the  whole  Gospel,  all  that  is  writtcQ 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  written  word;  the  same  word  upheld 
as  doctrine  and  law  of  life  by  the  Universal  Church ;  and  the 
same  as  enforced  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  the  "  Com- 
munion of  Saints," — the  body  within  the  Church  of  the  Sancti- 
fied. This  "the  Faith  of  Christ,"  as,  first,  written  in  the  Scriptures ; 
2ndly,  enforced  doctrinally  and  practically  by  the  Church  Uni- 
versal ;  and  thirdly,  as  living  in  the  life  and  actions  of  the  sanc- 
tified ;  the  word  and  faith  of  Christ  in  this  three-fold  aspect  is  the 
highest  Law  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  that  which  brings  it  to  per- 
fection,— "  this  Faith  of  Christ  our  Lord." 

*  I  would  reoommend  upon  this  last  point,  my  readers,  to  obtain  the  "  Hul- 
sean  Lecture  for  the  year  1846,  by  Richard  Chenevix  Trench."  The  sub- 
ject hinted  at  in  the  above  paragraph  is  there  gone  into  fully,  and  it  is  shown, 
"that  Christ"  was  "the  desire  of  all  Nations,"  and  that  even  "Heathendom 
prophesied  of  Him  unconsciously."  This,  in  fact,  is  the  title  of  the  book. 
The  style  is  very  beautiful,  and  the  sentiment  and  argument  exceedingly 
interesting. 

f  John  xiv.  6« 


'i^  "  CHEISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

And  here  natural  Ethics  and  spiritual  Ethics  touch ;  here  is  seen 
the  truth  of  that  principle,  "  That  Revelation  is  the  complement  of 
natural  Religion  and  Grace  of  Nature."  For  here  is  seen  that 
the  Spiritual  Reason,  in  man,  can  be  only  perfected  by  Him  who 
is  in  God,  "  the  Divine  Word;"  or,  as  it  otherwise  may  be  translated 
the  Divine  (Logos)  Reason. 

Nay,  when  we  look  at  all  those  truths  of  natural  Ethics,  that 
upon  this  subject  we  have  brought  forth  in  our  last  few  chapters, 
we  shall  see  that  each  and  every  one  of  them  has  in  the  Gospel  a 
corresponding  truth  of  Revelation,  which  completes,  perfects,  and 
crowns  it — so  that  although  Human  Nature  is  by  itself  a  wild  tre© 
that  bears  no  fruit ;  yet  upon  it,  by  its  being,  as  made  in  the  Image, 
a  true  and  perfect  fruit-bearing  scion,  may  be  grafted  by  Almighty 
Grace,  that  shall  bring  forth  much  fruit. 

To  illustrate  this,  we  take  "  this  Spiritual  Reason"  to  be  our- 
selves personally,  that  which  is  truly  and  properly  "I^"*  or  what 
represents  the  being  and  attributes  of  the  individual ;  and  at  the 
same  time,  in  this,  the  Reason,  the  wisest  in  the  Church,  nay, 
even  the  Heathen,  f  who  have  thought  most  deeply  upon  it,  have 
placed  the  "Image,"  or  resemblance  of  man  to  God. 

Now  when  we  look  to  the  being  of  God  we  see  that  the  Son  is 
in  the  Father,  the  "Divine  Reason,"  the  "Word,"  the  "Manifesta- 
tion of  his  Glory,"  the  "express  image  of  his  Person:"  being,' 
therefore,  in  the  Father,  as  the  "  Spiritual  Reason  "  is  in  us ;  with 
the  essential  difference,  that  in  the  Almighty  Father,  since  He  18 
Infinite  in  power,  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  all  attributes,  the 
"Word,"  and  "Wisdom,"  and  "Manifestation  "  of  the  Father  is 
the  Son, — a  Personal  Being,  who  is  "God  of  God,"  "Light  of 
Light,"  "very  Godo/God."J  And  we,  made  in  the  Image  of  God, 

*  See  a  previous  quotation  from  Whewell's  Morals. 

f  Plato  for  example. 

i  The  word  "  of"  in  the  phrases,  "  God  of  God,"  "  Light  of  Light,"  "Very 
God  of  Very  God," — is  often  read  as  if  it  were  the  sign  of  the  possessive 
case,  as  in  the  phrases  "  the  son  of  the  king,"  which  is  identical  vrith  the 
"  king's  son,"  the  "  nature  of  God,"  that  is  "  God's  nature."  Whereas  the 
word  "  of"  is  the  emphatic  word,  answering  to  "tx  "  in  the  Greek  original,  or 
"  de  "  in  the  latin  version,  being  the  preposition  "  of,"  as  in  the  phrase  "  he 
was  descended  of  noble  ancestors." 

The  English  preposition  "  from,"  perhaps,  would  be  in  our  present  idiom 
the  clearest  and  most  unambiguous  translation,  thus, — "God  from  God," 
"^Light  from  Light,"  "  Very  God  from  Very  God," — expressing  the  great  fact 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  169 

are  made  in  the  Image  of  the  Word  :  and  the  faculty  that  shows 
that  Image,  the  Spiritual  Keason,  this  faculty  has  for  its  supreme 
law,  the  Faith  of  Him  who  is  the  express  Image  of  His  Father's 
person — not  the  image,  as  Reason  is  in  us,  of  the  IniSnite  in  the 
Finite,  but,  the  image  in  that  He  is  "  God  of  God,"  Light  of 
Light,"  "  Very  God  of  Very  God." 

Such  a  natural  congruity  is  there  between  the  Relation  of  the 
Word  to  the  Father,  and  the  Relation  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  to 
the  man.  And  secondly,  in  the  fact  that  man  was  made  in  the 
"  Image  of  God,"  that  is  of  the  Word,  which  image,  by  the  Fall, 
is  defaced,  but  not  become  the  image  of  the  devil,  but  of  Adam, 
a  man  fallen,  yet  still  a  man.  These  two  natural  congruities 
should  surely  indicate  to  us  the  truth  of  this  that  I  have  asserted, 
that  the  perfection  of  the  "  Spiritual  Reason"  in  man,  is  the  "  Faith 
of  Christ  the  Word."  A  natural  truth  of  the  higher  Ethics  is  thus 
completed  by  a  truth  of  Revelation. 

And  he  that  doubts  need  not  seek  far ;  in  the  most  ordinary 
Ethical  books  of  the  Heathen  before  Christ,  he  shall  find  the  na- 
tural side  of  this  truth  stated  as  a  fact,  yet  losing  itself  in 
theory  and  speculation,  and  folly,  because  the  Spiritual  comple- 
ment of  it  had  not  yet  been  revealed.  And  in  the  Church's 
doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  the  Word,  and  His  relation  to  the  Father, 
he  shall  find  the  other  part,  a  truth  of  Nature  and  a  truth  of  Grace, 
the  one  answering  to  and  completing  the  other,  from  both  which 
combined,  we  draw  our  inference,  that  to  that  natural  faculty  in 
man,  which  we  have  called  the  "Spiritual  Reason,"  the  supreme 
law  and  means  of  bringing  it  to  the  highest  perfection,  is  "  the 
Faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

We  might,  as  other  philosophers  and  other  moralists  have  done, 
dweU  upon  the  other  Laws  of  Reason,  which  have  been  once  to 


of  the  "  Eternal  Generation  of  the  Word."  That  from  the  Infinite  and  IJn- 
originate  Father  came  forth  eternally  a  personal  being,  the  Word,  who  is  the 
"Manifestation  of  Hia  Glory,"  the  "Express  Image  of  His  Person,"  the  se- 
cond person  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  who  "  was  incarnate  and  died  for  us  1  The 
agent  (if  we  may  use  the  phrase)  of  the  whole  power  of  the  Father ;  the  sole 
access  and  adit  unto  the  Father  for  all  men ;  the  exclusive  fountain,  the  one 
source  of  all  Spiritual  Life  to  man,  is  the  Word  eternally  proceeding  from  the 
Being  of  the  Father ;  and  yet  eternally  dwelling  in  Him.  God  then  or  God, 
light  OF  light,  very  God  of  very  God,  is  the  Almighty  and  Eternal  &»on  in  his 
relation  to  the  Almighty  and  Eternal  Father. 

22 


>iltH)  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

individuals  or  even  to  races  and  nations,  supreme  laws  of  the  Rea- 
son ;  and  which  are  in  being  still,  hut  not  supreme.  We  might,  as 
Wordsworth,  gaze  upon  the  face  of  Nature  and  from  it  struggle  to 
call  forth  the  Law  for  man's  being.  We  might  bring  up,  again,  the 
reasonings  of  Plato,  or  of  Aristotle,  or  the  lofty  Stoic  guesses  at 
the  truth  under  laws  that  were  to  them  true  and  the  highest  they 
had,  but  were  not  the  ultimate,  the  adequate,  and  supreme  law. 
But  we  are  not  as  Plato,  or  the  Stoics,  or  Aristotle.  For  us  the 
Supreme  Law  of  the  Spiritual  Reason  is  in  the  Faith  of  Christ, 
finally  revealed  and  manifested. 

It  is  literary  trifling  and  absurdity  to  go  back  and  imagine  that 
we  can  place  ourselves  in  the  situation  of  the  Heathen  Philoso- 
phers. The  same  train  of  argument  which  in  them,  at  their  date, 
was  deep  and  solemn  enquiry,  in  us  shall  be  frivolity  and  affecta- 
tion. We  cannot  place  ourselves  in  their  position,  and  it  is  absur- 
dity to  imagine  it.  Instead  therefore  of  going  over  their  speculations 
to  their  results,  we  take  the  natural  facts  they  had,  and  show  the 
completion  of  them  in  the  faith  of  Christ.  For  a  Supreme  Law 
we  point  not  to  outward  Nature,  to  Platonic  or  Aristotelian  Morals ; 
to  the  Grecian  "sense  of  Beauty,"  or  the  Roman  sense  and  feel- 
ing of  Justice — not  to  these  but  to  that  upon  which  all  these 
rested,  ^^  Nature  f'  and  then  to  that  which  all  these  had  not,  "  The 
Faith  of  Jesus  Christ;"  and  then,  accoyding  to  the  maxim  which 
makes  and  constitutes  our  Philosophy,  "  Chace  is  the  complement 
of  nature," — we  say,  the  Faith  of  Jesus  Christ  is  that  alone  which 
as  its  Supreme  Law  perfects  the  Reason  of  Man. 

Here  then  have  we  reached  the  highest  point  of  Natural  Ethics 
and  the  lowest  of  Spiritual  Ethics,  the  point  wherein  the  one  unites 
with  the  other ;  and  as,  in  reference  to  the  "  Natural  Con- 
science, we  showed  that  to  the  justified  alone  was  the  Conscience 
perfect,  so  now  do  we  assert  that  to  them  who  are  "  Sanctified  " 
only  is  the  "  Spiritual  Reason"  perfected ;  and  this  takes  place  in 
both  its  results  of  "Moral  Harmony"  and  "Moral  Progress,"  by 
the  constant  influence  of  the  Grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  upon 
the  Spiritual  Reason  of  the  Sanctified.  The  examination  then  of 
these  two  points,  although  we  are  led  in  search  of  them  and 
towards  them,  and  even  within  a  very  little  of  them,  still  lies  out- 
side the  domains  of  Natural  Ethics,  and  within  those  of  Spiritual 
Ethics,  it  is  .therefore    deferred   to    a  future  time.     We   shall 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  ITJ 

therefore  recall  some  other  characters  of  the  Reason  that  illustrate 
the  views  we  have  given. 

We  would  point  out  that  the  Reason  is  the  faculty  of  the  "  Un- 
seen," of  that  which  is  not  tangible  by  the  senses  or  to  be  brought 
under  their  examination — and  side  by  side  with  this  we  would  place 
the  Apostle's  declaration,  that  "  Faith  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  unseen  ;"*  his  declaration  also 
that  "the  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal,"!  that  is,  they  flee 
away  and  abide  not  for  ever.  So  that  it  would  seem  that  the 
power  in  us  by  which  when  it  is  awakened  we  discern  the  Unseen, 
this  power  is  the  Spiritual  Reason,  and  Faith  is  its  act  when  under 
Grace.  And,  when  God  has  awakened  it,  then  only  can  it  exert 
itself  in  Faith,  as  the  Scripture  says,  "Faith  is  the  gift  of 
God."J 

Hence  from  Natural  Ethics  and  from  Revelation  we  have  three 
truths. 

First,  There  are  things  Unseen,  which  alone  are  real  and  fade 
not  away. 

Secondly,  There  is  a  power  in  man  that  may  be  awakened  to  see 
them,  or  may  be  left  unawakened,  so  that  it  does  not  see,  but  still 
it  is  the  sense  of  them. 

Thirdly,  There  is  an  influence  that  awakens  and  perfects  that 
power.  This  influence  is  what  the  Scriptures  call  the  "  Grace  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;"  and  the  sight  by  it  awakened  is  called 
"  Faith."  Here  again  Nature  rises  upward,  and  the  truths  of  which 
it  speaks  in  dim  enigmas  are  declared  and  interpreted  by  Revela- 
tion. The  nature  and  effects  of  living  faith  and  the  enlightening 
and  illuminating  influence  of  Grace  upon  the  mind,  these  explain 
and  make  clear  this  doctrine  of  natural  Ethics. 

Again,  that  it  is  the  "  sense  of  the  Unseen."  This,  combined 
with  that  other  fact,  that  "  it  may  be  trained  unconsciously" — this 
bears  witness  to  the  Church's  doctrine  of  the  "  Communion  of 
Saints,"  and  the  influence  that  the  angels  of  God  and  the  Holy 
Departed  have  upon  us. 

.  For  indeed  the  Spiritual  Reason  or  Sense  of  the  Unseen,  is  so 
far  the  witness  and  the  faculty  of  a  Spiritual  World,  that  as  no  man 
who  has  the  eye,  the  sense  of  natural  vision,  can  be  without  a  con- 

•  Heb.  xi.  1.  1 2  Cor.  iv.  18.  t  Eph.  u.  8. 


172  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

viction  that  lie  sees,  so  with  regard  to  an  Unseen  World,  men  may 
chase  away  the  doctrine,  call  it  absurdity,  reason,  argue  against 
it  as  they  will,  and  yet  they  cannot  by  all  their  labor  get  rid  of  it. 
It  will  cling  by  them. 

Cultivate,  then,  in  your  children  the  sense  of  the  unseen  world 
of  Spiritual  things — the  feeling  of  the  actual  and  real  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  of  the  guardianship  of  his  "  holy  angels," 
and  of  the  "  Communion  of  Saints," — and  the  sense  of  the  Un- 
seen shall  receive  its  due  nutriment  in  the  truths  of  Kevelation, 
and  shall  produce  a  sanctifying  result  upon  the  character,  in 
that  calm  and  holy  habit  of  meditation  which  seems  to  be  the 
highest  grace  of  the  perfect  Christian  mind. 

But  chase  this  belief  away ;  sneer  it  down ;  call  it  superstition, 
&c.,  and  you  shall  find  that  the  faculty  will  not  be  deprived  of 
some  food  ;  it  sought  for  that  "  above  human  reason,"*  and  could 
not  reach  or  obtain  it,  so  it  shall  take  refuge  in  that  which  is 
"  against  reason."  Not  being  fed  with  the  truths  of  the  Unseen, 
it  will  turn  to  the  garbage  of  the  "Absurd."  He  that  cannot 
believe  in  "one  Baptism  for  the  Remission  of  sins,"  he  shall 

*  There  are  "  things  above  reason,"  and  "  things  against  reason."  This 
is  a  plain  and  manifest  distinction,  referring  to  the  limited  nature  of  man 
during  his  present  state  of  existence  with  his  present  faculties.  It  asserts  that 
there  are  truths  in  his  life  revealed  to  him  which,  while  he  takes  them  to  be 
true  upon  the  evidence  of  the  revelation  of  God,  still,  owing  to  the  limited  na- 
ture of  his  faculties,  and  their  adaptation  only  for  this  gross  and  earthly  state 
of  being,  he  cannot  comprehend  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  them.  They  lie 
far  above  him,  in  a  purer  and  clearer  atmosphere,  in  which  his  mental  facul- 
ties cannot  live.  And  to  rise  to  them  a  change  must  take  place  in  him,  from 
the  animal  and  earthly  to  the  pure  celestial  body. 

These  facts,  whose  reason  is  above  our  faculties,  while  we  know  them  to  be 
facts,  are  called  mysteries.  Such  are  the  mysteries  of  the  Atonement,  of  the 
Incarnation,  of  the  Spiritual  Body,  of  the  Marriage  Union,  of  our  Regenera- 
tion and  Spiritual  Life  through  Christ,  of  the  nutrition  of  our  souls  by  His 
Body  and  Blood,  aa  our  bodies  are  nourished  by  the  Sacramental  symbols  of 
bread  and  wine — all  these  are  mysteries,  facts  revealed  to  us  by  God,  to  be 
received  in  faith,  and  yet  incapable  of  being  comprehended.  Above  reason, 
they  are  not  against  it ;  for  we  can,  by  reason,  refute  all  gainsayers,  whal>- 
ever  arguments  they  may  bring  forward.  We  can  refute  the  opponents  of 
these  truths,  but  we  cannot  explain  the  truths  themselves.  For  the  explana- 
tion we  must  wait  for  a  future  life  and  a  loftier  state  of  intellectual  being. 
Such  is  the  distinction  between  "  things  above  reason"  and  "  things  against 
reason,"  a  distinction  every  student  must  see  to  be  of  deey  importance  in 
Moral  and  Eeligious  Science. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  173 

believe  in  "Baptism  for  the  dead"  General  Washington  by  Jo- 
seph Smith,  the  Mormon.  He  that  "  cannot  believe  in  a  Church 
of  God  existing  upon  the  earth  with  its  Divine  Powers,"  he  shall 
come  to  believe  that  "  an  impostor,  half  crazy,  half  knavish  as 
Matthias,  was  the  Shiloh."*  And  they  who  from  youth  upwards 
had  set  at  nought  all  the  truths  of  the  Christian  faith,  they  shall 
be  converted  by  the  frantic  ravings  of  the  Millenarian  prophet, 
announcing  the  doom  of  the  world,  and  the  triumphant  entrance 
of  the  Messiah  into, — not  Jerusalem,  but  New  York ! 

Give  the  man  the  truths  of  the  Unseen  World,  the  truths  "  above 
reason,"  revealed  in  the  word  of  God,  upheld  and  interpreted  by 
the  Church,  impressed  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  "  the  sense  of  the 
Unseen,"  the  "  Spiritual  Reason"  in  him  shall  embrace  them  na- 
turally, easily,  readily.  Keep  the  truths  of  the  Faith  of  Jesus 
Christ  away,  and  any  absurdity,  any  superstition,  any  folly,  he  is 
prepared  for.  The  natural  faculty  that  is  deprived  of  due  and  ap- 
propriate food  and  denied  it,  this  faculty  shall,  whether  in  body, 
soul  or  spirit,  thus  become  a  depraved  appetite,  feeding  upon 
garbage. 

Upon  these  grounds,  I  say,  the  man  who  trains  up  his  children 
without  the  truths  of  the  Faith  of  Christ  our  Lord  impressed  upon 
their  mind,  this  man  (especially  if  they  be  unbaptized)  by  the  very 
nature  and  reason  of  the  case,  trains  them  up  as  victims,  by  him- 
self made  ready  for  any  absurd  and  unreasonable  fanaticism.  If 
they  are  baptized  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  then  have  they  the 
teachings  of  the  Spirit  pledged  to  them,  and  of  the  Communion 
of  Saints,  and  this  in  its  secret  operations  upon  their  souls,  may 
perhaps,  through  God's  mercy,  in  some  degree  supply  the  neglect 
of  the  parents,  without,  in  any  degree,  relieving  them  from  the 
guilt. 

Again :  I  would  point  out  how  much  the  fact  that  the  Spiritual 
Reason  can  be  taught  and  trained  by  an  influence  of  which  it  is 
unconscious,  illustrates  the  operation  upon  us  of  God's  Spirit, 
whose  teaching  is  known  but  by  the  fruits  it  brings  forth ;  how 
much  it  agrees  with  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  that  "  the  angels 
minister  to  us,"  and  that  "  our  dead  friends  may  not  be  apart,  but 
near  to  us."  All  these,  which  are  matters  of  Revelation,  at  the 
•ame  time  are  matters  of  natural  belief,  which,  because  man  has 

*  See  Stone's  "  Life  of  Matthias  the  Impostor." 


174  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

a  "  Sense  of  the  Unseen,"  he  will  not  give  up  to  any  argumenta- 
tion whatsoever.  And  the  fact  and  truth  which  the  man  can  see 
in  his  "  family,"  that  Moral  Teaching  may  be  true  and  real 
teaching,  although  it  is  not  consciously  perceptible  to  the  subjects 
of  it,  this  aids  him  to  see  that  all  these  influences,  which  are  as- 
serted in  the  Holy  Scripture,  and  yet  he  feels  not  consciously, 
may  still  exist  and  be  good,  and  have  a  true  and  real  effect. 

And  again :  we  find  the  faculty  ever  seeking  "  Moral  Harmony," 
ever  testifying  by  its  desire  after  it  to  the  natural  want  of  it,  yet 
ever  struggling  towards  it  as  an  object.  Here,  then,  in  its  sense 
of  incongruity,  unsuitableness,  inability  in  the  natural  state^ — here 
is  its  testimony  to  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin.  Ten  thousand  ora- 
tors may  prove  to  their  own  satisfaction  that  "  men  are  now  born 
as  the  first  man  came  out  of  the  hands  of  his  Creator,"  but  the 
"Spiritual  Reason"  of  each  man  shall  say  "No"  to  their  elo- 
quence and  their  arguments.  It  shall  say,  "  I  wish, — desire, — seek 
after,' — aim  at  '  Moral  Harmony ;'  and  in  Nature  hy  itself  I  feel  it 
not."  And  the  inner  voice  shall  confute  the  eloquent  argumenta- 
tion of  the  orator  and  man  of  genius,  and  to  the  plain  preacher 
of  the  Gospel,  that  proclaims  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin,  that 
**man  is  fallen,"  it  shall  uphold  and  support  the  truth  he  asserts. 

Having  thus  brought  this  subject  to  a  conclusion,  so  far  as  it  is 
in  the  province  of  Natural  Ethics,  I  would  recapitulate ;  and  from 
that  recapitulation  enforce  another  inference  that  may  be  drawn 
very  distinctly. 

First.  There  is  a  certain,  distinct  and  clear  body  of  definite, 
eternal  moral  truths,  which  are  ever  the  same,  and  do  not  vary 
"with  circumstances. 

Secondly.  These  have  Institutions  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
teaching  them,  which  do,  under  all  circumstances,  teach  consci- 
ously or  un-consciously. 

Thirdly.  There  is  a  peculiar  faculty  in  each  individual  man, 
adapted  to  receive  these  truths. 

Therefore  to  them  that  have  these  truths,  and  know  them  by 
earnest  and  true  realization,  whether  Parent,  or  Magistrate,  or 
Clergyman — these  three  principles  say, — "  That  which  you  know 
as  Divine  Truth  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  that  teach  fearlessly, 
earnestly^  zealously :  and  no  matter  though  a  multitude  were 
against  you ;  the  Harmony  of  Nature,  the  frame  of  Society,  and 
its  institutions,  nay,  the  very  unseen  world  itself,  Angel  and  Arch- 


THE  SPIRITUAL  REASON.  175 

angel,  Cherubim  and  Seraphim,  shall  lend  you  aid;  and  in  the 
very  being  and  frame  of  the  individual  man,  even  cf  him  who 
opposes  you,  therein  shall  that  faculty  that  is  the  Image  of  God 
desire  and  yearn  after  the  Eternal  Truths  that  come  from  God ; 
and  a  word  of  these  from  you  shall  be  a  seed  that  shall  bear  fruit 
after  years  are  gone. 

Let  the  Parent,  then,  not  fear  his  own  weakness, — or  the  Magis- 
trate his  want  of  eloquence, — or  the  Clergyman  his  want  of  influ- 
ence : — if  the  "  eternal  truths"  are  in  him  held  and  acted  upon\ 
really  and  honestly ,  he  has  a  power  that  shall  and  will  tell  inK 
the  strongest  way. 

But  if  he  only  talks,  and  is  "  eloquent  and  impressive,"  or  even 
learned,  in  a  mere  logical,  or  mental,  or  rhetorical  way,  upon  things 
of  which  he  has  no  "Spiritual  Apprehension,"  or  Feeling,  or 
Principle  ;  he  may  be  sure  that  he  cannot  communicate  to  others 
that  which  he  has  not  himself.  He  need  not  wonder  that  in 
uttering  to  children,  or  pupils,  or  citizens,  or  congregations,  the 
words  and  bare  verbal  enunciation,  the  outward  shell  of  that  Eter- 
nal Truth,  that  they  should  not  make  quite  so  great  an  impression 
as  the  same  words  shall  from  the  mouth  of  the  man  who  feels,  and 
apprehends,  and  realizes  that  truth,  as  a  Law  of  life  mare  pre- 
cious than  gold  or  silver,  and  which  he  would  be  hewn  asunder 
before  he  would  transgress. 

This  subject,  then,  of  the  Divine  Keason,  we  here  dismiss,  leav- 
ing it  here,  because  only  under  the  light  of  Revelation  can  it  be 
completed ;  but  yet  so  far  as  Natural  Ethics  go,  discussed  and 
examined,  we  trust  satisfactorily.  The  remainder  of  the  subject, 
the  "Moral  Harmony"  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  and  its  progress 
to  perfection,  properly  belong  to  Religion. 


BOOK   lY. 
THE    HEART    OR    AFFECTIONS, 


CHAPTER  I. 


Heart  or  Affections. — Its  meaning. — Towards  Persons.— Appetites  and  Desires 
towards  Things. — It  is  towards  Persons  in  Society. — Society  in  reference 
to  this  Power  is  a  School  of  Love. — Errors  that  may  be  avoided  by  this  con- 
sideration.— Use  of  Instinct  in  Animals. — Moral  Principle  and  Rule  of  the 
Affections  deducible  from  this.— What  is  "Nobleness"  of  Heart,  and  what 
Meanness. 

We  have  entitled  this  book  of  the  "Heart  or  Affections," 
thereby  manifestly  taking  the  one  phrase  and  the  other  to  be 
identical,  as  to  that  particular  class  of  emotions  that  they  signify. 
And  we  have  given  the  two  titles  to  the  book,  because  each  of 
these  words  is  liable  to  be  used  in  a  somewhat  varying  sense,  so 
that  either  might  be  mistaken  for  something  that  we  do  not  mean ; 
but  the  union  of  the  two  in  the  title,  and  the  use  of  the  one  as  an 
equivalent  to  the  other,  will,  better  than  any  formal  definition, 
convey  to  our  readers  that  particular  idea  that  we  wish  to  give  to 
them. 

By  the  "Heart,"  then,  "or  the  Affections,"  we  mean  to  imply 
the  third  of  the  "  governing  "  powers  of  man, — those  four  powers, 
namely,  by  which  we  take  him  to  be  a  moral  being,  and  which 
we  take  him  to  have,  as  a  living  creature  having  a  "Spirit;" 
and  the  animals  not  to  have,  as  not  having  a  "Spirit."  While 
we  admit,  at  the  same  time,  that  as  being  an  "Animal,"  he 
has  the  "  Animal "  Mind  and  all  its  qualities ;  just  as  being  an 
"extended"  and  "material"  body,  he  has  the  qualities  that 
176 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  177 

belong  to  "matter  filling  space."  But  as  a  "man,"  he  has  to 
these  last  two,  superadded  the  "  Spirit  "  or  "Rational  Soul,"  of 
which  we  have  taken  "  Conscience,"  "  Reason,"  "the  Afiections," 
"  the  Will,"  to  be  the  four  faculties. 

For  this  word  "  Heart "  which  we  have  employed,  there  are 
doubtless  many  significations  which  may  occupy  the  attention  of 
those  that  wish  to  quarrel  and  argue  upon  words  ;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  at  all  that  the  one  predominant  meaning,  setting  asid^  pecu- 
liarities of  idiom  and  metaphor,  is  that  one  which  we  have  given. 
And  he,  who  in  ordinary  discourse  hears  the  word,  save  that  its 
meaning  is  determined  to  some  other  of  the  other  senses  by  the 
connection,  he  shall  generally  understand  "the  Afi'ections,"  and 
these  Afiections,  as  not  belonging  by  any  means  to  the  brute  crea- 
tion, but  as  peculiar  to  man ;  in  one  word,  he  shall  conceive  it  to  be 
peculiarly  a  Human  faculty,  and  only  by  a  very  high  metaphor, 
which  every  one  that  hears  shall  understand  to  be  an  exaggeration 
of  speech,  shall  he  apply  the  words  to  the  brute  creation.  To  the 
Dog,  the  Horse,  or  the  Elephant,  those  that  come  nearest  to  the 
human  race  of  all  mere  animals,  the  word  "Heart"  is  never  ap- 
plied. This,  then,  is  one  distinction  which  serves  to  mark  ofi"  and 
limit  the  meaning,  that  it  is  a  quality  that  belongs  not  to  brute 
animals,  but  to  men 

And  when  we  look  at  it  as  so  limited  to  man,  notwithstanding  a 
multitude  of  meanings  derived  from  various  idioms  and  various 
circumstances,  still  in  our  own  Anglo-American,  and,  indeed,  I  be- 
lieve in  all  the  Gothic  dialects,  we  shall  find  the  predominant  sig- 
nification to  be  that  the  Heart  means  the  "Afiections." 

True,  there  are  other  meanings.  It  means  memory,  or  seems 
to  do  so,  in  that  strange  phrase,  "getting  by  heart,"  commemo- 
rated and  illustrated  in  the  epigram : 

"  John  has  no  heart,  they  say, — I  do  deny  it : 
,  He  has  a  heart — and  gets  his  speeches  by  it." 

Again,  in  the  dissolute  times  that  followed  close  upon  the  Eng- 
lish Commonwealth,  there  was  a  translation  into  English  of  a 
French  Idiom,  in  which  profligate  men  spoke  of  "  Afi"airs  of  the 
Heart,"  (aff"aires  du  Coeur,)  meaning  seductions  and  adulteries; 
and  licentious  women  spoke  of  "wanderings  of  the  heart,"  (egare- 
mens  du  Coeur,)  meaning  thereby  adulterous  love  and  profligate 
amours.     And  there  is  undoubtedly  a  whole  range  of  English 

23 


178  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Kterature,  that  of  the  age  of  Charles  the  Second,  in  which  this 
word  is  so  employed  as  the  vile  translation  into  English  of  the 
word  coeur,  employed  in  as  vile  a  sense  in  French.  But  it  is  now 
ajntiquated,  the  word  has  cast  oflF  the  meaning,  and  but  few  would 
understand  it  in  that  sense.  This  meaning,  then,  being  merely 
the  idiom  of  a  time,  and  now  fallen  into  almost  total  disuse,  we 
ehall  pass  by,  having  noticed  it  merely  for  the  sake  of  dis- 
tinctness. I  .,_■-  . 

Again,  there  is  another  idiom  which  is  naturalized  in  our 
language,  that  which  makes  the  "  Heart "  to  be  an  idiomatic 
expression  for  courage  or  strength  of  mind  as  noticeable  in  the 
phrases,  "  Take  heart,"  "Faintness  of  heart,"  "In  good  heart." 
And  this  we  at  once  distinguish  as  an  idiom,  by  using  it  in  the 
phrase  in  that  sense ;  but  even  in  the  same  words  apart  from  the 
phrase  in  an  utterly  different  meaning.  For  instance,  we  say  such 
"man  is  of  a  good  heart,"  this  is  a  moral  commendation, — ^but 
"  be  of  good  heart  "  denotes  courage. 

Again,  there  is  in  a  passage  of  the  Bible  an  idiomatical  use  of 
it  for  the  "  Conscience,"  by  the  verbal  translation  of  which,  the 
verse  is  made  almost  unintelligible,  "Brethren,  if  our  heart  condemn 
us  not,  then  have  we  peace  with  God ;  if  our  heart  condemn  us, 
God  is  greater  than  our  hearts,  and  knoweth  all  things."*  A  pas- 
sage in  which  the  Greek  and  English  are  only  verbal,  not  real 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  word,  "leb,"  (heart,)  meaning  "con- 
science." 

So  far  with  regard  to  the  idiomatic  meanings  of  the  word.  We 
shall  now  proceed  to  the  metaphoric  meaning.  It  means  unques- 
tionably, in  metaphor,  the  innermost  part  of  anything ;  as  for 
instance,  "the  heart  of  the  earth,"  "the  heart  of  the  country," 
*'the  heart  6f  a  tree,"  all  which  are  figurative  meanings  for 
the  "  innermost  part."  And  in  this  sense  it  may  employed  as  a 
metaphor  for  the  "  whole  moral  nature  "  of  man  as  the  inner  and 
most  mysterious  part  of  his  being, — ^but  still  this  shall  be  only 
metaphoric,  and  not  a  proper  and  peculiar  sense. 

Another  metaphoric  meaning,  derived  undoubtedly  from  the 
heart,  the  physical  organ,  is  that  -vvhich  signifies  that  part  wherein 
the  strength  lies,  as  "  the  farmers  are  the  heart  of  the  country  j" 
and  "  to  give  heart,"  is  to  give  strength. 

*  John  iii.  20. 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  179 

Putting  aside  all  these  peculiarities,  we  come  to  this  conclusion  : 
the  word  "Heart,"  in  the  idiom  and  metaphor  of  the  English 
language,  applied  to  persons  in  respect  to  Human  Nature,  means 
the  "Affections."  And  this,  in  our  language,  is  the  predominant 
meaning,  and  the  one  generally  understood  by  every  one  that  hears 
the  word,  setting  aside  the  peculiar  cases  under  the  peculiar  cir- ' 
cumstances  above  mentioned,  in  which  each  one  naturally  under- 
stands the  exception,  and  takes  it  to  be  an  exception,  although 
perhaps  the  principle  upon  which  he  does  so,  is  not  present  to  his 
mind. 

Having  thus,  with  regard  to  this  subject,  obtained  as  much 
knowledge  as  we  can  obtain  from  the  verbal  examination,  we  shall 
now  go  onward  to  the  examination  of  the  thing  itself, — ^that  is,  the 
governing  power,  which  we  have  called  by  the  name  of  the  Heart 
or  Affections.  And  the  first  and  most  evident  character  of  the 
Affections  is  this, — they  are  turned  towards  persons,  they  dwell 
upon  persons,  and  in  persons  have  their  end  and  object.  We  have 
"  Appetites  "  for  things  that  are  immediately  required  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  body,  as  for  food  and  sleep;  "Desires"  for  other 
things  which  we  would  possess,  as  money,  real  estate,  power. 
"  Appetites  "  and  "  Desires  "  for  things,  but  "  affections  "  for 
persons. 

It  is  plain  that  the  "  Appetites  "  belong  to  the  body,  and  that 
in  a  manner  so  exclusive,  as  in  the  animals,  almost  to  shut  out  the 
idea  of  reasoning  or  mental  interference  in  any  way.  There 
seems  to  be  a  peculiar  conformation  in  the  animal,  by  which  a  cer- 
tain particular  kind  of  food  shall,  to  the  sense,  give  an  overpower- 
ing pleasure.  And  he  that  shall  look  at  the  intense  occupation 
and  hurrying  eagerness  with  which  animals  eat  their  food,  he  need 
not  doubt  that  "  appetite  "  in  the  brute  is  almost  entirely  exclu- 
sive of  reasoning ;  brute-mechanical,  if  we  may  use  the  word, 
depending  upon  the  "  Sensation  "  almost  wholly,  and  its  power  of 
being  moved  in  a  particular  way,  by  a  particular  object.  And 
that  these  appetites  are  required  for  the  direct  and  immediate  sup- 
port of  the  body. 

Now  "  desires  "  are  likewise  directed  towards  "things  "  as  well  as 
the  "  appetites ;"  and  when  we  look  at  these  last,  we  find  that  there 
is  not  one  of  these  that  does  not  tend  just  as  directly,  though  more 
remotely  to  "physical  good," — the  good  of  the  body,  as  the 


180  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

"  appetites "  do,  though  it  be  through  a  more  complex  series  of 
channels. 

We  find  also  of  each  and  every  one  of  the  desires,  that  although 
they  exist  in  a  vastly  superior  degree  in  man  still  in  as  distinct  a 
way  do  they  exist  in  animals.  Desire  of  applause  is  very  manifest 
in  the  dog,  and  is  in  him,  I  conceive,  precisely  the  same  quality 
that  in  Achilles  and  Alexander  was  the  "love  of  immortal  fame." 
"  desire  of  property  "  is  seen  in  the  monkey,  the  jack-daw,  the  ant, 
the  marmot,  and  seems  to  be  the  very  "  wish  for  accummulation  " 
that  works  so  strongly  in  the  miser  and  rapacious  man  ;  and  so  we 
may  go  on,  and  we  shall  see  that  there  is  not  a  desire,  how  mightily 
soever  it  may  have  wrought  in  men  the  most  renowned,  that  does 
not  exist  the  same  in  kind,  though  not  in  degree,  in  the  animals. 

These  "  desires,"  then,  we  call  Desires  of  the  Animal  Mind :  and 
if  we  are  asked,  why  they  are  more  complete  and  more  perfect  in 
man,  being  the  same  in  kind ;  we  say,  because  in  him  "  the  under- 
standing" or  mind  that  deals  with  objects  of  sense,  and  the  notions 
derived  from  it,  is  more  perfect ;  as  in  him,  it  dwells  in  his  nature 
in  union  with  "the  Spirit"  or  Moral  Being  of  man.    ^ 

We  come  next  to  "  the  Afiections,"  or  Heart,  and  in  their  case 
we  see  a  plain  and  direct  distinction,  at  once  recognized  by  all 
men,  between  them  and  the  Appetites  and  Desires.  These  last,  as 
we  above  said,  are  towards  "  things,"  the  appetites  directly,  with 
hardly  any  mental  interference  in  the  case  of  the  lower  animals  ; 
the  "  desires,"  with  more  interference  of  the  reasoning  powers, 
are  towards  "things,"  the  Affections  towards  Persons. 

Having  thus  established  this  very  important  distinction,  we  shall 
proceed  to  the  further  examination  of  the  subject.  There  are 
Affections — they  tend  to  persons,  not  to  things,  and  are  thus  dis- 
tinguished from  Appetites  and  Desires.  Have  not  brutes  "  Affec- 
tions ?"  We  answer,  they  have  very  manifestly  desires  directed  to 
the  qualities  of  individual  men,  who  are  persons,  and  to  those  of 
other  animals,  who  oxe  not  persons,  (at  least  the  phrase  "person," 
we  have  never  heard  applied  to  any  animal,  and  we  do  not  believe 
it  can  properly  be  used  of  such, — Spiritual  beings  only  are  per- 
sons). But,  omitting  altogether  the  conclusions  that  might  arise 
from  this  last  consideration,  we  remark  that  the  "  Moral  Affec- 
tions "  tend  not  only  to  "  persons,"  but  to  ^^ persons  "  in  ^^Society." 

This  phrase,  "Society,"  we  at  once  see  means  something  else 
than  the  instinctive  bond  that  unites  a  communion  of  ants  or  bees 


THE  HEAKT  OR  AFFECTIONS. 


m 


together.  "We  have  already  shown  that  it  is  a  channel  of  mani- 
fold teachings  which,  by  means  of  the  natural  principles  of  Imita- 
tion, and  Sympathy,  and  Obedience,  train  the  individual  man 
whether  he  will  or  no,  in  moral  knowledge, — that  so  it  is  actually 
a  "  School,"  in  reference  to  the  faculty  of  man's  nature,  called 
the  Reason.  Again,  with  reference  to  the  "  Conscience,"  as  has 
been  seen.  Society  is  to  each  man  a  "  Probationary  Institution," 
one  that  exercises  in  manifold  ways  the  first  of  his  moral  powers, 
the  sense  of  Responsibility.  And  so,  in  reference  to  "his  Af- 
fections," Society  is  a  "  Home,"  a  natural  place  of  training, 
wherein  the  "  Heart "  is  taught  in  a  congenial  atmosphere  to  ex- 
pand with  "love,"  and  "sympathy,"  and  "respect,"  and  "kind- 
ness," and  all  the  feelings  that  tend  to  our  neighbour's  good,  and 
seek  it  mainly  and  rejoice  in  it,  and  so  by  blessing  him  do,  in  a 
reflex  manner,  bless  ourselves. 

Now  Society  has,  to  each  man,  these  uses,  and  he  feels  it  and 
knows  it  to  be  a  fact.  It  is,  a  "  School  of  Knowledge,"  an  "  In- 
stitution that  trains  him  in  the  law  of  his  nature," — a  "  Proba- 
tionary state,"  that  exercises  his  "  Conscience," — and  a  "  Home," 
wherein  the  "  Affections  "  are  developed.  Then  let  us  take  the 
animals,  the  ant,  or  the  bee,  or  the  beaver  that  live  in  what  you 
may  call  a  sort  of  society, — have  they,  by  it,  more  knowledge  than 
the  ant,  or  bee,  or  beaver  of  a  thousand  years  ago  ?  are  they  more 
disciplined  ?  or,  indeed,  disciplined  at  all  ?  Is  it  to  them  any 
"trial  state"  preparatory  to  another?  or,  to  them,  any  training 
school  of  the  "Affections  ?" 

No  certainly, — Society  to  man  is  an  idea  that  involves  all  these 
things  ;  to  animals  their  imion  is  entirely  mechanical,  caused  solely 
by  "  instincts"  and  "  adaptations  of  nature."  Instinct  seems  to  do 
for  animals  that  which  the  Affections  do  for  man;  and  to  do  it  in 
such  a  way  that  there  shall  be  no  moral,  or  even  mental  progress 
of  the  individual  or  the  race,  no  teaching  involved  or  implied. 

Having  presented  these  views  in  this  condensed  form,  upon  the 
nature  of  Society,  as  related  to  the  affections,  I  would  ask, — do  not 
these  views  suppose  God  ever  present  in  this  world,  in  Providence, 
in  Power,  in  Fatherly  Justice,  and  in  Tenderness  ;  as  a  God  that 
"teaches "  all  the  sons  of  men  in  knowledge  of  His  Law  and  of 
His  Will  ?  The  Almighty  and  Omniscient  teacher,  as  the  Gf^od 
who  from  birth  unto  death,  unto  each  son  of  man,  affords  trial 
after  trial,  so  that  no  man  passes  away  as  guilty  before  the  throne 


182  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

of  God,  that  his  own  spirit  shall  not  acknowledge  that  he  wil- 
linglj  sinned  against  all  light  and  all  knowledge  and  all  opportuni- 
ties ?  Do  not  these  views  imply  Him,  as  the  Almighty  who 
organized  this  world  as  a  "home,"  wherein  He,  as  a  father,  being 
present,  trains  His  children's  hearts  to  love  ?  Is  not  this  so,  hy 
our  own  Nature  in  its  Moral  Being,  by  Society  working  upon  that 
nature  in  its  several  ways  ;  and  by  the  revelation  of  God's  Nature, 
as  He  has  manifested  Himself  in  His  Holy  Scriptures  unto 
man? 

I  would  ask,  then,  of  the  Fatalist,  how  it  is  that  he,  in  defiance 
of  all  this,  has  dared  to  destroy  this  knowledge  and  this  belief?  to 
put  this  truth  aside  and  to  take  the  circumstances  that  happen  in 
these  wonderful  institutions  of  nature,  and  freeze  them  into  an 
icy  sea  of  destiny  and  doom  ?  to  say  "  there  is  no  end  of  good 
in  these,  no  uses  appropriate  to  the  nature  of  God  and  man — So- 
ciety is  no  divine  institution  for  appropriate  purposes — no,  it  is  an 
accumulation  of  circumstances  under  one  fixed  law,  that  of  Fate, 
and  absolute  Doom !" 

The  tenet  has  been  held,  and  by  good  and  religious  men ; — 
I  ask,  can  any  man  hold  it  that  once  casts  a  thought  upon  "  So- 
ciety "  as  a  Divine  organization,  for  the  express  purpose  of  train- 
ing the  Moral  or  Spiritual  Nature  of  man,  in  his  Conscience,  his 
Spiritual  Reason,  his  Afiections,  his  Will  ?  Certainly  not.  No  man 
who  has  calmly  thought  upon  the  Spiritual  Nature  of  Man,  and 
the  uses  of  Society  in  reference  to  this  nature,  can  hold  such 
views.  It  is  only  by  looking  to  "Power,"  as  the  sole  attribute  of 
the  Almighty  ;  and  by  forgetting  that  man  has  a  moral  Nature ; 
and  that  there  are  means  and  institutions  to  train  it,  which  are  as 
permanent  as  the  existence  of  the  Human  Race,  and  are  the  in- 
stitutions of  an  ever  present  God,  that  the  religious  man  can 
possibly  hold  such  views. 

Again,  another  person  sees  the  phenomena  of  man  and  of  So- 
ciety as  facts  only,  and  thinks  not  upon  the  Moral  and  Spiritual 
Nature  of  man,  or  the  Institutions  for  instructing  it,  and  then 
knowing  and  feeling  that  "destiny,"  or  "fatalistic  doom"  is  no 
fit  explanation,  says  "  God  organized  this  world  upon  a  system  of 
laws,  which  laws  were  to  act,  and  by  their  infiniteness  bring  under 
their  rule  all  natural  consequences  whatsoever :" — and  thus  with 
him  this  world  is  actually  a  machine  in  which  physical  laws  are  the 
"wheels,  and  " cause  and  efiect "  the  "power  and  weights;"  certain 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS. 

causes  bringing  about  certain  effects  mechanically.  His  theory 
evidently  supposes  that  Crod  acted  at  the  beginning  so  far  as 
making  a  system  first,  and  secondly  "setting  it  a  going;"  but  that 
He  has  never  acted,  nor  ever  interfered  since.  To  him  who  holds 
this  Mechanical  Theory  of  the  Universe,  I  say,  if  he  had  looked 
at  the  nature  of  man,  then  had  he  seen  influences  above  all  merely 
"physical  law,"  in  the  possession,  by  man,  of  an  actual  Spiritual 
Nature,  one  of  the  very  qualities  of  which  must  be  actions  origin- 
ating in  no  antecedent  physical  cause.  He  had  seen  also  influ- 
ences, which  arise  not  in  a  single  "  cause-and-effect,"  physical 
law  binding  all  things  in  a  chain  to  the  original  movement  of  the 
system  at  the  beginning  of  the  world,  but  in  three  schools  for 
teaching,  each  existing  in  the  one  many-formed  and  many-purposed 
institution  of  Society,  and  each  working  out  the  Will  of  a  present, 
ruling  God. 

Think  of  the  four  links  in. the  chain  of  being;  of  God,  first; 
and  secondly,  of  Society,  the  organization  instituted  to  teach 
His  Will ;  and  thirdly,  of  the  Spiritual  and  Moral  faculties  of 
man,  which  by  nature  belong  to  him  ;  fourthly,  of  Man  as  the  in- 
dividual to  whom  they  belong ;  and  hardly  shall  you  fall  into  these 
errors.  But  without  considering  the  existence  of  Society  as  a 
moral  fact,  and  the  possession  of  Spiritual  Faculties  by  the  man, — 
look  only  upon  the  Power  of  God,  and  over  the  manifold  tide  of 
events,  the  millions  upon  millions  of  facts  and  influences  that  bear 
upon  the  man,  and  hardly  shall  you  escape  manifold  errors.  The 
fact  that  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  that  man  has  a  Spiritual  being,  these 
two  are  united  together  by  the  fact  that  there  is  a  Spiritual  Teach- 
ing, and  Institutions  for  that  purpose  organized.  Forget  the  two 
uniting  links  and  there  is  a  great  gulf  between  man  and  God, 
which  you  shall  in  vain  attempt  to  bridge  over  with  systems, 
•whether  Fatalistic  or  Epicurean,  Stoic  or  Platonic. 

"  Society,"  then,  "Human  Society,"  considered  as  different  from 
mere  animal  communism,  which  depends  solely  upon  instinct  sup- 
plying common  uses  of  bodily  support  by  a  kind  of  natural 
"division  of  labour" — Human  Society  is  distinguished  from  this 
brute-mechanical  Socialism  of  the  beasts,  as  spreading  over  all 
nature  in  one  wide  family,  or  "  School  of  the  Affections,"  wherein 
God  as  "Father  of  the  Family,"  is  the  present  teacher,  to  them 
who  will  learn. 

A  teacher  God  is  in  Society,  even  by  the  scourge  of  affiction 


184  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  the  fire  of  suffering, — to  them  that  will  learn.  For  clay  is  har- 
dened and  wax  softened  by  the  same  fire  ;  the  same  punishment 
which  subdues  the  good,  only  exasperates  the  evil : — and  so  con- 
vinced are  we  of  this,  that  we  will  say  that  there  is  no  affliction,  no 
suffering,  even  no  wrong  and  no  evil  or  injustice,  that  is,  by  his 
fellows  inflicted  upon  a  man,  that  may  not  by  himself  be  made  the 
means  of  calling  forth  more  clearly  in  his  heart  the  fire  of  the 
affections,  and  rendering  him  towards  man  more  lovely  and  more 
loving ;  and  no  joy  of  theirs  that  shall  not  awake  in  him  a  like 
emotion,  and  by  Sympathy,  give  him,  as  it  were,  a  two-fold  plea- 
sure, one  of  his  own  and  one  of  his  neighbour's. 

Having  thus  examined  these  two  points*  in  reference  to  the 
"Heart"  or  the  "Affections,"  we  would  bring  forth  a  moral  in- 
ference deducible  from  them,  and  urge  it  upon  our  readers. 

The  "Affections"  are  directed  towards  "persons"  and  not 
"  things,"  and  in  them  receive  their  full  and  perfect  exercise  and 
gratification.  The  "Appetites"  and  the  "Desires" — these  are 
towards  things.  This  is  the  law  of  their  nature,  and  so  a  rule 
9f  it. 

And  from  it  comes  most  plainly  the  principle  of  Moral  Action, 
that  when  the  affections  are  directed  exclusively  towards  the  Per- 
son or  Individual,  without  respect  to  the  advantages  that  may  come 
from  the  Affection^  then  are  they  so  far  pure  and  noble.  Se 
that  has  friendship  and  love  towards  any  individual,  must  heep 
altogether  out  of  thought  the  benefits  he  may  derive  from  him  in 
consequence  of  that  love  of  his.  If  once  the  thought  of  these 
benefits  be  mixed  in  with  his  Affection  and  calculated  upon,  then 
desire  takes  gradually  the  place  of  affection,  which  becomes  de- 
cayed, and  may  perish  utterly. 

So  it  is  with  regard  to  the  child  in  respect  to  the  parent  and  the 
parent  in  respect  to  the  child.  Nature  tells  us  that  filial  love  should 
be  directed  to  the  Parent  as  Parent ;  and  the  moment  the  child 
begins  to  think  of  loving,  because  of  benefits  or  advantages,  of 
measuring  its  love  by  these  advantages,  and  weighing  so  much  of 
the  one  against  so  much  of  the  other,  so  soon  does  Affection  de- 
part, being  adulterated  with  Desire.  So  with  the  Father  towards 
the  Child :  Paternal  Affection,  if  mixed  up  with  thoughts  of  benefit, 

*  That  the  affections  are  towards  "  persons" — and  these  "  persons  in  So- 
ciety." 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  185 

is  alloyed  and  changed  into  something  else  that  is  not  "  affection," 
but  is  selfishness  and  "calculation."  And  so  of  the  Husband 
"towards  the  Wife," — of  the  betrothed  or  engaged  towards  one 
another.  Let  Father  or  Son,  or  Brother  or  Sister,  or  Husband  or 
Wife, 'or  any  else  whose  bounden  duty  it  is  to  render  "  Affection," 
let  them  permit  selfish  considerations  to  enter  in,  and  "  the  De- 
sires," whether  of  money,  or  comfort,  or  station,  or  of  anything 
else  to  intrude,  and  they  shall  find  out,  that  craftily  as  they  may 
disguise  it,  there  is  an  instinct  that  pierces  through  this  conceal- 
ment. And  they  may  find,  too,  that  even  in  the  Social  Nature  of 
man,  there  is  such  a  law  as  this  :  "  He  that  hath,  it  shall  he  given 
unto  him,  and  he  shall  have  more  abundance,  and  from  him  that 
hath  not  shall  he  taken  away  even  that  he  hath." 

I  say  not  this  under  any  high  romantic  feeling,  or  in  any  hasty 
fervor,  but  in  a  common  sense  way,  as  a  natural  inference  from 
a  natural  rule.  And  seeing  the  amount  of  unhappiness  that  has 
been  in  families  for  the  last  seventy  or  eighty  years,  seeing  also 
how  generally  men  calling  themselves  Moral  Philosophers,  have 
taught  actual  selfishness  as  a  rule*  I  believe  that  the  cause  and 
effect  are  these  two — "  Selfishness  in  matters  of  the  Affections," 
taught  by  these  philosophers  and  acted  upon  by  persons  that 
knew  not  the  wrong, — and  then  misery  as  a  consequence  from  that 
action. 

Now,  all  the  relations  existing  between  persons  wherein  "  Affec- 
tion" is  due,  all  these  are  attended  with  a  multitude  of  actual  and 
real  advantages  over  and  above  the  Affection,  upon  which,  as  the 
Highest  Goodf  of  them  all,  the  relation  is  founded.  Each  and 
all  of  them,  in  their  natural  and  proper  operation,  tend  to  heighten 
the  "Affection,"  but  if  each  and  all  of  them  were  gone,  then  the 
Affection  should  he  retained.  Now,  the  assertion  we  make  is  this : 
that  if  any  of  them  separately,  or  all  of  them  together,  assume 
the  influence,  or  be  the  leading  principle,  then  the  Affection  is  de- 
graded and  debased  into  a  "  desire,"  and  the  relation  is  injured 
in  its  integrity  and  pureness. 

The  husband  that  truly  loves  his  wife,  loves  her  the  more  for 
her  various  wife-like  qualities,  for  everything  that  makes  him  in 
his  house  more  happy,  more  comfortable,  more  respectable.     All 

*  The  Moral  Philosophy  of  Paley  has  been  commonly  called  the  'Selfish 
Philosophy." 
t  See  in  Book  I.  the  doctrine  of  the  Highest  Good. 

24 


186  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

these  qualities  become,  as  it  were,  fuel  to  increase  his  affections 
and  love.  But  he  that  desires  to  have  all  these,  and /or  that  reason 
takes  a  woman  to  be  a  wife,  he  may  find  himself  disappointed. 
And  so  for  every  relation  in  life  wherein  affection  is  due — if  men 
would  have  all,  let  them  have  this  the  first. 

A  parallel  case  I  may  state  as  confirming  this  conclusion.  I 
have  known  many  men  who  because  they  were  religious  ptospered 
in  worldly  affairs;  and  I  have  noticed  that  just  as  soon  as  they  be- 
gan to  substitute  the  consequence  as  a  motive  for  its  cause,  to  say 
in  their  hearts,  "  I  shall  remain  religious  in  order  that  I  may 
prosper  in  worldly  affairs,"  just  so  soon  their  religious  feeling  be- 
gins to  decay.  The  one  fact  and  the  other  depend  upon  the  same 
principle. 

Now,  wherein  "  the  Affections"  are  kept  clear  from  the  Desires 
by  the  man,  with  his  own  will,  consciously,  there  is  seen  a  peculiar 
character  of  mind  easily  recognized  by  all,  and  in  the  common 
language  of  all  given  as  a  distinguishing  name.  This  word  is 
"Nobleness;"  and  he  is  ^^ noble"  in  Heart  who  to  all  to  whom 
affection  is  due  gives  that  affection  unalloyed  by  the  "Desires" 
and  "Appetites." 

"Nobleness  of  mind"  we  shall  therefore  use  henceforth  as  a 
word  to  which  a  distinct  and  definite  meaning  in  Ethical  Science 
is  attached.  And  opposite  to  it  directly  is  what  we  call  Meanness, 
the  character  of  which  is  that  it  makes  ^'affection  &  pretence  and 
a  means  for  gratifying  and  indulging  the  "Desires," — lawful,  in- 
deed, in  themselves,  if  lawfully  used,  but  when  taking  the  place  of 
the  Affections  and  substituted  for  them,  most  evil. 

That  the  "  Affections"  are  intended  for  "  Persons"  in  "  Society :" 
from  this  the  second  principle,  a  multitude  of  practical  inferences 
of  the  highest  moral  value  are  deducible ;  but  these,  most  properly, 
shall  come  under  the  particular  examination  of  the  several  rela- 
tions to  which  they  are  referred,  and  therein  our  readers  shall  find 
them.     In  the  meantime  we  go  on  to  another  part  of  this  subject. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  187 


CHAPTER  II. 

Sympathy. — Two  kinds. — Passive  and  Active. — Passive  Sympathy,  the  senso 
of  harmony  of  feeling  with  others. — Illustrations  of  it  and  its  uses. — A 
moral  precept  founded  upon  it. — Second  kind  of  Sympathy,  the  active 
power  of  entering  voluntarily  into  the  feelings  of  others. — It  is  vicarious. 
— Misery  is  in  this  world  more  than  happiness  for  man  unprotected. — But 
Society  in  all  its  forms  is  defensive  against  misery, — We  sympathize  more 
with  sorrow  than  joy. — Hence  its  uses  manifest. — Sympathy  in  a  great 
measure  voluntary. — Natural  and  acquired  deficiency  of  this  afiiection. — 
Hardheartedness. — Its  natural  punishments. — Sentimentalism  a  disease  of 
the  Sympathy. — Rousseau. — Law  of  sympathy. — Moral  conclusions  from 
this  arising. 

There  is  one  especial  difficulty  about  Ethics,  in  that  it  is  a 
science  of  which  each  one  has  the  requisite  knowledge  in  his  own 
consciousness ;  and  the  presentation  of  it,  then,  in  an  external  sys- 
tematic form,  is  almost  impossible.  The  business,  therefore,  of 
the  writer,  so  far  as  he  can,  is  to  present  the  truths  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  each  one  may  recognize  them  as  facts  of  his  own  nature, 
and  accede  to  the  rules  drawn  forth  by  the  author ;  but  for  putting  it 
in  a  mechanically  systematic  order,  it  is  a  thing  which  the  very 
nature  of  the  science  forbids.  The  true  system  in  it  is  not  of  ex- 
ternal arrangement,  but  of  internal  sequency,  so  that  fact  shall 
lead  to  fact,  and  principle  be  made  a  foundation-stone  to  principle : 
that  so  the  reader  shall  be  led  to  think  upon  his  own  nature  and  to 
see  by  it,  that  the  principles  of  the  science  are  true.  For  often 
it  happens  that  a  fact  or  truth  shall  be  denied  by  him  under  the 
influence  of  prejudice  or  of  ignorance,  which,  had  he  seen  it  in  its 
Ethical  connexion  with  others  of  which  he  would  make  no  doubt, 
though  they  have  never  been  brought  up  consciously  to  his  mind, 
he  would  at  once  have  acknowledged  to  be  true.  Let  not  the  red- 
der, then,  expect  this  external,  mechanically  systematic  order  from 
us;  we  are  content  if  we  present  the  various  truths  of  Ethical 
Science  in  the  peculiar  systematic  method  which  we  have  described 
above, — ^that  form  which  we  feel  most  appropriate  to  a  science, 
all  the  facts  of  which  are  in  existence  in  each  one's  breast.  In  ac- 
cordance with  these  views,  we  would,  in  this  chapter,  as  in  its 


188  '  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

peculiar  and  appropriate  place,  present  the  subject  of  Sympathy 
(and  perhaps  some  kindred  truths,)  to  the  thought  of  our  readers. 

The  original  meaning  of  the  word  Sympathy  is  "  Harmony  of 
the  Affections,"  (sympatheia).  It  originally  implied  not  merely 
that  state  in  which  of  two  persons  the  feelings  of  the  one  being 
affected  in  a  particular  way,  the  feelings  of  the  other,  because  of 
sympathy,  shall  be  so  affected, — so  that  "  we  rejoice  with  them 
which  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  which  weep,"  although  we 
have  not  the  motive  to  rejoicing,  or  to  sorrow,  that  they  have,  but 
only  our  sympathy  with  them.  It  was  not  taken,  then,  solely  as 
this  the  passive  effect,  but  also  as  a  particular  power  that  brings 
about  the  effect,  and  is  a  part  of  our  nature. 

And  by  many  beautiful  comparisons  this  idea  was  supported, — 
by  marvels  of  the  most  wondrous  kind  it  was  proved  or  impressed. 
The  Philosophy  of  ancient  Greece  and  of  Middle-age  Europe,  teems 
with  the  wonders  of  that  miraculous  principle.  Sympathy.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  two  harps  being  tuned  alike,  and  one  being  played, 
the  chords  of  the  other  would  follow  the  tune  with  a  faint,  sympa- 
thetic music.  It  was  believed  that  precious  stones  had  sympathies 
with  peculiar  persons  and  characters.  Nay,  even  the  influence  of 
the  stars  shed  their  virtues  upon  men  by  Sympathy.  And  the 
herbs  of  the  field  wrought  by  "  Sympathy."  And,  stranger  still, 
wounds  could  be  healed  at  a  distance  by  an  ointment  whose  force 
depended  upon  "  Sympathy,"  the  ointment  being  smeared  upon  the 
weapon,  not  upon  the  wound !  In  fact,  he  Ihat  shall  look  at  the 
works  of  "Baptista  Porta,"  or  "Albertus  Magnus,"  shall  find 
there  the  strangest  Natural  Philosophy  ever  dreamed  of,  and  all 
of  it  founded  upon  the  one  principle.  Sympathy. 

But  perhaps  the  Platonic  notion,  that  supposes  marriage  to  be 
the  union  of  two  souls  that  once,  in  their  pre-existent  state,  were 
one,  and  the  "  sympathy"  which  urges  them  again  to  union,  to 
send  them  unconsciously  seeking  it  over  the  world,  is  the  most 
interesting  fable  upon  the  point.  Although  hardly  inferior  to  it 
may  be  counted  that  which  supposes  the  mother's  heart  to  be  en- 
dued with  such  natural  affection  towards  her  child,  that  after  it 
has  been  lost,  if  brought  again  into  her  presence,  through  secret 
sympathy  her  heart  shall  yearn  towards  it.  And  then  again,  that 
Middle-age  persuasion,  by  which  two  perfect  friends  shall,  at  the 
remotest  distance  have,  under  certain  conditions,  a  true  and  per- 
fect knowledge  of  one  another's  state ;  because  of  their  friendship, 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  189 

*he  feelings  of  their  hearts  moving  with  a  perfect  sympathy.  All 
ihese  are  interesting  fables,  showing  nevertheless  the  feeling  and 
persuasion  of  the  existence  of  a  Great  Power  and  Principle  in  the 
Being  of  Man. 

We  hold  that  there  is  actually  and  really  such  a  power,  perhaps 
not  performing  works  so  wonderful  as  these  attributed  to  it,  and 
yet  rightly  understood  and  rightly  employed,  very  wonderful,  and 
truly  bringing  about  extraordinary  results.  We  say,  that  taking 
away  the  marvels,  and  fabulous  dreams,  and  high  poetic  fictions, 
the  idea,  as  it  was  conceived  of  old,  of  a  Sympathy  or  "  Harmony 
of  the  Afiections,"  by  means  of  which  eflFects  ensue,  that  come 
from  no  mental  power  or  conscious  effort  of  the  mind,  but  from  an 
instinctive  "harmony,"  or  "  discordance  "  of  that  power  we  have 
called  the  "  Heart "  or  the  Affections,"  is  most  perfectly  and  en- 
tirely true. 

The  idea,  we  say,  as  it  was  of  old  conceived,  such  as  we  have 
defined  it,  and  as  it  is  now  understood  by  the  ordinary  and  common 
mass  of  men. 

The  idea,  then, — that  we  may  clearly  define  it,  so  that  men  may 
know  precisely  what  they  are  required  to  examine, — is  this,  that 
*'  Sympathy  is  a  natural  harmony  by  which,  upon  matters  espe- 
cially that  concern  the  Affections,  one  human  being  shall,  under 
certain  conditions,  feel,  in  despite  of  all  concealment  of  language, 
the  real  state  of  the  other."  This  asserts  that  there  is  in  some  men, 
under  some  circumstances,  a  naturally  penetrative  power,  in  a  very 
great  degree,  that  shall  see  the  real  state  of  others  in  despite  all 
concealment ;  and  that  this  power  being  particularly  prominent  in 
some  minds,  is  yet  an  element  in  all. 

It  asserts,  for  instance,  that  for  that  man  that  is  really  and 
sincerely  compassionate  in  heart,  we  will  say,  or  meek  in  temper, 
or  truly  pure  minded,  or  affectionate,  this  feeling  does,  as  it  were, 
give  a  tone  to  his  thoughts  and  emotions,  all  of  them,  and  become 
a  sort  of  key-note  to  his  mind.  Nay,  that  such  is  the  power  of 
this  that  we  call  "  feeling,"  that  it  frames  and  forms  anew,  and 
gives  an  expression  to  all  the  features  and  all  the  gestures.  So  that 
really  and  truly  the  predominant  feeling  comes  in  as  a  flavor  in 
all  actions,  a  key-note  in  all  thoughts,  a  subtle  writing  upon  the 
face,  a  lauguage  that  speaks  through  every  limb.  And  were  man's 
senses  as  subtle  as  they  are  dull,  and  obtuse,  from  the  slightest 
glance,  the  merest  gesture,  the  fullness  of  the  mind  might  be  seen. 


190  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

'"  Tet  still,  though  the  conscious  sense  be  dull,  the  mini  uncon- 
sciously will,  by  the  power  of  sympathy,  penetrate  into  the  Heart ; 
and  at  a  glance,  the  man  knows  not  how,  feelings  of  suspicion  will 
arise  in  his  mind,  or  of  dislike,  or  of  liking,  exactly  in  accordance 
with  the  particular  tone  and  temper  of  bis  own  mind.  So  that  if 
the  Heart  be  pure  and  holy,  and  just,  then  shall  that  heart  have  a 
prophetic  power,  by  which,  when  the  impure,  and  imholy,  and  un- 
just are  brought  in  contact  with  it,  a  secret  warning  shall  speak  in 
it,  and  enjoin  caution,  and  watchfulness,  and  suspicion,  to  he  mea- 
sured afterivards  by  facts  carefully  observed  and  inferences  strictly 
drawn,  and  proofs  ;  but  still, — before  all  these,  a  warning,  and  one 
not  to  be  neglected. 

Passive  Sympathy  then  is  the  instinctive  feeling  of  the  harmony 
or  discordance  of  the  Moral  Aflfections  of  others  with  our  own.  Per- 
haps it  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  two  principles  above  men- 
tioned ;  first,  that  the  predominant  affection  frames  all  the  features 
and  gestures  to  a  form  peculiar  to  itself,  and  gives,  if  we  only  had 
the  subtilty  to  perceive  it,  a  peculiarity  to  all  our  words,  even  to 
tbe  very  tone  of  our  voices ;  and  secondly,  that  the  mind  often 
acts  so  swiftly  that  we  are  unconscious  of  the  action,  and  only 
perceive  the  result ;  as  it  is  when  the  experienced  musician  con- 
tinu-es  to  play  while  he  is  conversing — that  so  the  mind  perceives 
the  predominant  moral  feeling,  or  the  want  of  it  in  the  face  of  the 
man,  unconscious  of  its  own  action,  and  presents  the  result  only  as 
a  suspicion.  These  two  principles,  both  which  the  reader  will  upon 
consideration  see  to  be  true,  perhaps  may  explain  the  nature  of 
"Sympathy," — perhaps  only  its  operation. 

We  are  inclined  to  the  latter  view,  that  Sympathy  is  a  separate 
power,  and  that  these  will  only  show  the  means  by  which  it  may 
operate.  And  the  following  are  some  of  the  grounds  upon  which 
we  do  so  think.  In  the  first  place,  we  see  clearly  and  distinctly 
that  while  men  are  individuals,  and  therefore  each  man  is  one — ^yet 
they  are  not  individuals  in  the  same  sense  in  which  the  grain  of 
sand  upon  the  bank  is  one.  Each  man  is  one  individually, — but 
the  Human  Race  is  one  also.  And  the  race  is  not  one,  as  the  bank 
of  sand  is  one,  by  mere  aggregation  or  accumulation  of  individual 
particles,  but  rather  is  an  organized  oneness,  as  is  the  tree  or  any 
other  living  body  ;  and  hence,  because  of  this,  the  individual  shall 
not  only  have  tones,  tempers,  feelings,  powers,  that  terminate  in 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  191 

himself,  but  even  against  his  own  will,  even  unconsciously  those  that 
terminate  in  others.  Hence  is  "Sympathy"  the  feeling  preserva- 
tive of  that  vital  oneness  of  the  race,  by  which  the  heart  of  one 
man  shall  vibrate  in  unison  with  the  heart  of  another;  and  even 
by  such  things  as  may  appear  to  be  unreasonable,  likes  or  dislikes, 
jealousies,  suspicions,  and  other  movements,  of  the  nature  and 
uses  of  which  the  man  himself  may  be  unconscious,  may  the  vital 
coherence  and  unity  of  the  Human  Race  be  preserved :  and  then 
we  may,  in  support  of  this,  point  out  the  fact  that  all  men  are  of 
one  blood  upon  the  earth,  of  one  heart,  and  one  feeling  naturally, 
and  that  this  oneness  of  being  naturally  suggests  and  warrants 
such  a  harmony  as  we  call  Sympathy,  as  well  as  the  sense  and  feel- 
ing of  it. 

Hence  it  is  that  many,  in  aU  ages,  even  of  the  wisest  and  best, 
][iave  believed  in  this  mysterious  power  and  its  warnings ;  and 
although  we  may  not  be  able  to  establish  the  rules  and  laws  of  its 
action,  still  the  condition  of  human  nature  and  of  the  hearts  of 
men,  renders  it  very  probable.  We  look  upon  it  as  at  least  so  far 
established  that  a  rule  of  action  may  be  founded  upon  it,  that  may 
not  be  lightly  disregarded. 

Man  knows  the  things  of  his  own  heart.  Each  one  knows  for  in- 
stance whether  in  religion  he  is  sincere  or  an  hypocrite ;  he  knows 
whether  he  is  inwardly  licentious  and  adulterous,  or  inwardly  pure ; 
he  knows  whether  he  is  inwardly  honest  or  dishonest,  and  so  forth. 
Now  to  those  who  are  truly  sincere  within,  truly  honest,  truly  pure, 
I  say,  "  there  is  sometimes  against  individuals  a  feeling  of  dislike 
even  at  the  first ;  and  this  is  often  a  movement  of  "Natural  Sym- 
pathy,"— a  warning  to  the  pure  in  heart  of  the  presence  of 
impurity,  to  the  honest  of  the  presence  of  dishonesty,  to  the 
sincere  of  hypocrisy; — not  a  proof,  but  only  that  which  if  we 
follow  it  up  and  keep  it  in  our  mind  may  lead  to  proof; — a  kind 
of  secret  caution  which  secures  the  good  in  heart  against  the 
wicked,  and  defeats  evil  in  its  most  crafty  snares. 

This  by  its  nature,  as  I  have  said,  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  proof 
or  a  demonstration,  but  only  as  an  indication.  It  is  to  be  taken 
as  for  ourselves  not  for  others,  a  something  that  we  should  ponder 
over,  but  hardly  give  currency  to  against  the  individual. 

But  to  the  young,  who  have  been  reared  in  a  holy  Home,  in 
purity  of  heart  and  thought,  and  in  the  great  blessing  of  having 
been  members  from  childhood  of   the  Church  of   God,   under 


192  CHRISTIAN  SCIESrCE. 

Parents  that  have  realized  and  acted  up  to  their  duty — to  them 
I  say  : 

"  Never  neglect  the  mysterious  warmng  of  Sympathy,  if  you 
yourselves  know  and  feel  that  you  have  purity  of  heart  internally, 
and  sincerity  of  religious  faith  ;  if  this  be  so,  often  shall  you  find 
this  secret  warning,  to  reveal  to  you  that  which  to  others  of 
maturer  minds  is  perfectly  unseen, — and  this  for  your  own  good." 

So  far  with  regard  to  "  Sympathy"  in  one,  and  that  a  very  im- 
portant sense.  Sympathy  is  taken  in  another  sense  as  "  the  active 
power  that  one  man  has  naturally  of  entering  into  the  feelings  of 
another,  and  being  himself'  affected  as  that  other  is  :"  of  this  we 
shall  now  treat. 

It  is  a  very  evident  thing,  that  in  all  the  feelings  whatsoever  that 
belong  to  the  Heart,  there  is  a  power  on  the  part  of  all  men  of 
entering  into  those  that  belong  to  another,  and  in  it  thus  making 
them  our  own,  and  that  without  our  having  the  causes  for  these 
feelings  that  the  persons  with  whom  we  sympathize  have. 

For  instance,  a  neighbour  shall  lose  a  husband  or  a  child,  and 
the  natural  emotion  shall  excite  in  her  grief — and  then  from  the 
"  power  of  Sympathy,"  we  shall  have  the  ability  to  feel  her  grief, 
actually  and  really,  so  that  without  suffering  the  sorrow  we  shall 
feel  the  emotion  that  it  causes. 

I  do  not  say,  always  to  such  a  degree  as  the  person  upon  whom 
the  affliction  has  come ;  and  yet  I  dare  not  say  that  it  has  never 
been  so,  for  I  myself  have  seen  grief  by  Sympathy,  in  which 
there  was,  to  all  appearance,  more  deep  and  vehement  emotion  and 
more  suffering  in  those  who  sympathized  than  in  the  person  with 
whom  they  did  sympathize. 

But  this  I  do  say,  that  sympathy  in  this  second  sense,  is  a  real 
and  distinct  power,  by  which  one  man  is  enabled  to  enter  into  the 
emotions  of  another's  heart, — all  emotions,  I  say,  that  belong  to 
the  Affections, — and  actually  to  take  a  part  in  them,  to  bear  them, 
to  suffer  them,  without  the  having  had  himself  the  original  excit- 
ing cause,  or  indeed  any  exciting  cause  at  all,  save  the  Sympathy. 
A  power  of  transference,  as  it  were,  belonging  to  our  Nature,  by 
which  the  man  shall  be  able  to  convey  to  his  own  Affections  and  lay 
upon  them  the  weight  which  the  person  with  whom  he  sympathizes 
is  bearing,  or  ought  in  proportion  to  his  affliction  have  borne.  A 
power  by  which  the  sorrow  of  one  shall  be  divided  and  borne  in 
part  by  another.  A  faculty  by  which,  as  in  the  external  world,  we 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  193 

help  by  the  lever  in  lifting  material  burthens,  and  distribute  the 
weight ;  so  are  we  able  to  distribute  the  weight  of  the  burthens 
and  sorrow  of  the  heart. 

Active  Sympathy  therefore  we  define  to  be  the  power  of  enter- 
ing into  the  emotions  of  a  fellow  being  and  bearing  them  with  him 
vicariously. 

The  reasons  that  justify  us  in  believing  it  so  to  be  are, — first,  the 
divine  institution  of  Society  as  a  real  and  vital  organization,  which 
exists  coeval  with  man.  Sympathy,  then,  we  consider,  as  it  were, 
the  vital  harmony  in  the  body  of  Society  by  which  one  heart  is 
adapted  to  the  other,  and  the  needs  and  necessities  of  the  one  sup- 
plied by  the  other.  It  arises  from  that  organization  which  makes 
humanity  to  be  as  it  were  one  great  body  universally  spread  over 
the  face  of  the  earth,  each  member  bound  to  the  whole  and  to  each 
individual  by  that  vital  harmony.  Thus  the  oneness  of  the  human 
race  shall  not  be  the  oneness  of  aggregation  by  which  the  sands 
make  up  a  bank  of  sand,  it  shall  rather  be  the  oneness  of  vital 
organization,  by  which  the  particles  of  the  human  body  are  one 
by  vital  force  and  vital  harmony.  This  vital  harmony  in  each 
particle  of  the  human  frame  we  consider  in  the  body  of  Society  to 
be  represented  by  Sympathy. 

We  consider  it  again  to  be  a  separate  power,  and  one  primary 
to  the  Heart,  which  may  be  conjoined  with  almost  all  the  feelings 
whatsoever,  and  which  gives  them  a  second  range  and  a  further 
flight  that  they  had  not  of  themselves.  For  instance,  you  may  be 
righteously  angry  for  injustice  done  yourself :  again,  injustice  is 
done  your  neighbour;  by  the  "power  of  Sympathy"  your  emo- 
tion of  anger  shall  again  be  raised,  and  you  shall  be  angry /or 
him.  It  is  manifest  the  cause  for  the  emotion,  and  the  emotion 
itself,  may  exist  in  him;  and  the  capability  of  the  emotion  of 
anger  being  excited,  may  be  in  you.  But  more  than  this  is  want- 
ing, that  you  may  feel  indignation /(W  the  injury  done  to  him, :  the 
faculty  in  your  nature  that  supplies  this  power  of  entering  into 
his  feelings  vicariously,  is  "  Sympathy."  The  utmost  similarity 
of  nature,  temper  and  habits  may  exist,  but  more  than  this  is 
requisite  to  connect  these  parallels,  and  that  is  this  power.  And 
any  one  may  look  at  the  definition  we  have  given,  and  by  his  own 
experience  he  shall  see  and  feel  that  there  is  such  a  power  ;  that 
it  is  not  the  agreement  that  arises  from  mere  similarity  of  temper, 
nor  the  mere  harmony  of  emotion  arising  from  oneness  in  any 

25 


194  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

emotion,  but  tliat  it  is  a  separate  power  that  looks  to  society  as  an 
actual  organization,  not  an  aggregation,  and  that  it  may  be  united 
with  any  one  emotion  or  feeling  of  the  Heart,  so  as  to  transfer  that 
emotion  to  ourselves. 

We  have  placed  it  as  the  primary  power  of  the  Heart ;  that 
by  which  all  other  affections  are  extended  from  ourselves  to  our 
brethren  in  the  one  common  human  nature. 

And  he  that  shall  fully  consider  it,  shall  see  that  the  Appetites 
or  Desires  can  hardly  be  objects  of  Sympathy,  but  strictly  and 
only  the  "  Affections."  For  instance,  "  hunger"  and  "  thirst" — 
the  emotion  with  which  we  see  them  is  not  Sympathy, — towards 
mere  hunger  we  have  no  such  feeling.  But  let  "hunger"  be  the 
cause  of  "misery"  and  wretchedness,  and  at  once  we  find  our 
sympathy  flow  forth,  and  "  compassion"  is  the  result,  the  feeling 
that  makes  the  distress  of  others  and  their  misery  our  own. 
Again :  it  is  not  united  with  mere  "  Desires,"  the  mental  emo- 
tions that  turn  upon  things,  "love  of  property,"  "  love  of  power," 
"love  of  fame,"  all  these,  which  are  turned  towards  things,  we 
find  that  hardly  can  we  sympathize  with.  But  all  those  that 
are  turned  towards  "persons,"  all,  in  other  words,  that  ar6  of  the 
Heart  or  Affections,  whose  object  is  "persons"  in  "Society,"  to 
all  these  Sympathy  may  be  united,  and  thence  make  these  emo- 
tions existing  in  others  our  own.  Hence  we  have  correctly  placed 
it  among  the  Affections,  and  as  the  first  of  them. 

But  there  is  another  observation  with  regard  to  its  nature  that 
we  may  make,  and  that  is,  that  the  power  we  have  of  entering  into 
the  "  Affections"  or  Emotions  of  others  varies  very  much.  And 
the  first  broad  distinction  is  this,  that  far  more  both  in  amount  of 
emotion  and  in  easiness  of  being  moved  do  we  sympathize  with  the 
sad  than  with  the  joyful  emotions.  This  is  an  assertion  which  each 
one's  experience  will  manifest  to  him  as  true ;  and  the  uses  and 
ends  of  this  provision  of  nature  are  easily  seen.  For,  putting 
aside  the  question  of  Good  and  Evil,  with  regard  to  which  it  is 
that  preponderates,  and  confining  ourselves  solely  to  that  which 
regards  pain  and  suffering,  there  is  very  little  doubt  that  these  last, 
which  are  not  always  evil,  and  are  not  in  every  case  the  attendants 
or  the  consequences  of  evil,  do  as  to  their  amount  greatly  prepon- 
derate. 

This  opinion  we  offer  as  an  opinion,  as  to  the  actual  amount  of 
pain  considered  in  itself  physically j — believing,  at  the  same  time, 


THE  HBAKT  OR  AFFECTIONS.  195 

that  a  great  deal  of  it,  even  by  man,  using  his  moral  nature,  can 
be  converted  into  direct  moral  satisfaction,  and  that  by  God  as  our 
Father,  it  is  used  as  the  pain  inflicted  by  a  Father.  This  estimate 
as  to  the  preponderance  of  pain,  we  say  not  unhappiness  or  evil, 
but  pain — we  shall  support  by  the  opinion  of  Bishop  Butler. 

In  his  Sermon  upon  Compassion,  he  speaks  thus :  ' 

"  Suppose  that  we  are  capable  of  happiness  and  of  misery  in 
degrees  equally  intense  and  extreme,  yet  we  are  capable  for  the 
latter  for  a  much  longer  time  beyond  all  comparison.  We  see  men 
in  the  tortures  of  pain  for  hours,  days,  and  except  the  short  sus- 
pension of  sleep,  for  months  together  without  intermission ;  to 
which  no  enjoyments  of  life  do,  in  degree  and  continuance,  bear 
any  sort  of  proportion.  And  such  is  our  constitution  and  that  of 
the  world  about  us,  that  anything  may  become  the  instrument  of 
pain  and  sorrow  to  us.  Thus  almost  any  one  man  is  capable  of 
doing  mischief  to  any  other,  although  he  may  not  be  capable  of 
doing  him  good ;  and  if  he  be  capable  of  doing  him  some  good, 
he  is  capable  of  doing  him  more  evil.  And  it  is  in  numberless 
cases,  much  more  in  our  power  to  lessen  the  miseries  of  others  than 
to  promote  their  positive  happiness,  any  otherwise  than  as  the 
former  often  includes  the  latter ;  ease  from  misery  occasioning,  for 
some  time,  the  greatest  positive  enjoyment." 

"  This  constitution  of  nature,  namely,  that  it  is  so  much  more 
in  our  power  to  occasion,  and  likewise  to  lessen  misery,  than  to 
promote  positive  happiness,  plainly  required  a  particular  affection, 
to  hinder  us  from  abusing,  and  to  incline  us  to  make  a  right  use 
of  the  former  powers,  i.  e.,  the  powers  both  to  occasion  and  to 
lessen  misery ;  over  and  above  what  was  necessary  to  induce  us 
to  make  a  right  use  of  the  latter  power,  that  of  promoting  posi- 
tive happiness." 

Hence  do  we  see  the  opinion  of  Butler  that  our  nature  is  far 
more  susceptible  of  misery  than  of  happiness ;  that  is,  of  itself 
apart  from  all  things  else,  and  taking  misery  merely  to  be  suffer- 
ing of  the  nature,  not  to  be  "evil." 

From  which  susceptibility  of  the  nature  we  may  well  argue  that 
to  man,  standing  apart  from  all  protection,  by  himself,  as  an  indi- 
vidual, misery  clearly  predominates.  This  can  be,  I  think,  proved 
distinctly  by  removing,  first,  the  Church ;  secondly,  the  Nation, 
and  third,  the  Family ;  and  by  so  doing  you  place  Man  and  Na- 


196  CHKISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

ture  face  to  face,  and  see  that  to  him  life,  apart  from  these  shelter- 
ing influences,  has  more  misery  a  thousand  fold  than  pleasure. 

Again :  by  this  we  see  clearly  and  distinctly  another  use  of  these 
organizations  to  be  "  the  sheltering  of  man  from  misery,"  the 
interposing,  as  it  were,  of  the  shield  of  a  positive  institution  be- 
tween him  and  suffering.  He  that  looks  at  the  state  of  a  well 
ordered  Nation,  in  which  the  Law  reigns  and  the  national  organ- 
ization is  in  perfection  of  action,  and  considers  the  security  to 
Life  and  Property  thence  ensuing,  and  then  contrasts  it  with 
anarchy  and  its  consequences,  may  truly  see  that  one  end  which 
the  Nation  fulfils,  is  to  fence  off  from  each  individual  within  it 
sorrows  he  would  have  endured  but  for  its  existence.  He  that 
looks,  then,  at  the  Family,  shall  see  that  in  reference  to  all  its 
members  it  is  the  same.  And  as  a  Minister  of  the  Apostolic 
Church  of  Christ,  I  will  say  that  there  is  no  one  that  has  been 
new-born  within  her  holy  fold  by  "Water  and  the  Spirit,"  and 
has  fed  upon  the  bread  of  life  from  her  altars,  whether  we  interro- 
gate him  as  to  his  own  experience  or  that  of  others,  but  must  say 
that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  protective  against  many  evils,  pre- 
ventive of  much  misery.  Men  who  are  non-professors  may  not 
believe  it,  but  they  who  are  and  have  been  within  the  fold,  know 
that  such  are  its  effects.  The  Family,  the  Nation,  the  Church, 
are  institutions  defensive  against  misery  of  their  very  nature,  and 
tend  to  shield  us  from  it. 

Now,  this  being  seen — it  being  seen,  too,  how  "  man  is  made  to 
mourn,"  we  can  see  why  we  have  Affections  directed  towards 
"persons ;"  why  those  affections  are  led  by  one,  the  first,  that  en- 
ables us  to  enter  into  the  feelings  of  our  fellow  men,  and  why 
"  Sympathy"  is  so  much  more  with  sorrow  than  with  joy.  Far 
more  can  we  "weep  with  those  that  weep,"  than  "rejoice  with 
them  that  do  rejoice." 

Hence  the  uses  of  the  Affection  are  very  clear  and  manifest ; 
it  causes  us  directly  to  ward  off  misery  from  our  neighbour,  by 
making  his  sorrow  affect  us  as  if  it  were  our  own.  The  Affections 
are  to  Persons,  and  with  every  one  of  them  it  is  joined,  but  chiefly 
with  those  that  are  remedies  for  the  weakness,  the  woes,  the  mise- 
ries of  man.  In  each  of  these  it  affects  us  with  the  emotions  of 
others,  and  makes  us  aid  them  as  so  moved  we  would  aid  our- 
selves. 

Another  remark  we  would  make  that  is  very  important.    It  is 


THE  HE4.RT   OR  AFFECTIONS.  197 

well  known  that  in  the  physical  world  the  cause  produces  the  effect 
infallibly,  and  by  a  mechanical  operation,  by  which  when  the 
"cause"  comes  into  being,  then  the  "effect"  ensues.  Now,  with 
regard  to  instinctive  actions  in  the  animals,  they  are  manifestly 
of  the  like  mechanical  nature  ;  that  which  is  done  in  man  by  those 
peculiar  agencies  that  we  call  the  Affections,  is  done  in  them  by 
an  instinct  which  seems  to  be  necessary,  compulsory,  mechanical. 
But  with  regard  to  man,  it  seems  as  if  over  the  higher  qualities  of 
his  Spirit  this  law  of  ^^eause  and  effect"  had  very  little  sway — 
these  the  higher  or  spiritual  qualities  seeming  to  he  causes  to  their 
own  action,  or  to  have  the  power  of  originating  internally  their 
own  operation,  just  as  if  a  machine  should  set  itself  going.  So 
seems  it  the  Conscience  can  be  influenced  from  without  or  from 
within,  the  motive  in  this  last  case  coming  from  the  Spiritual  na- 
ture of  the  man,  the  Reason  be  influenced  in  the  same  way,  and 
so  also  the  Affections  and  the  Will. 

But  external  physical  circumstances  are  bound  in  one  law,  that 
of  "  cause  and  effect."     They  form  the  web  that 

"  Hither  and  thither, 
To  and  fro, 
Is  woven  in  the  thundering  loom  of  Time." 

Within  this  law,  and  in  this  web,  are  all  things  not  Spiritual. 
With  them  "cause"  produces  "effect,"  and  this  again  is  "  cause," 
again  generating  "  effect."  And  so  as  from  the  first  link  stricken 
with  the  hammer,  the  sound  shall  vibrate  into  the  last  of  the  chain ; 
so  is  power  propagated  through  things  physical,  whether  they  be 
organic  or  animal,  but  the  "  Spiritual  originates  power  internally," 
and  can  resist  that  which  is  externally  conveyed  to  it. 

The  animal  is,  in  respect  to  the  emotions  towards  its  fellows, 
mechanical.  The  irresistible  mechanical  force  of  instinct  shall 
cause  the  male  wolf  to  aid  the  female,  during  the  period  of  nursing 
the  young,  with  the  most  anxious  solicitude.  Let  her  be  wounded, 
and  under  another  animal  law  he  shall  aid  in  tearing  her  to  pieces. 
The  instinct  he  cannot  resist  under  its  law  of  "  cause  and  effect." 

But  with  regard  to  Sympathy  being  a  spiritual  faculty  in  man^ 
it  is  manifestly  in  a  great  measure  a  voluntary  thing.  Misery  is 
presented  to  you — then,  naturally,  the  Emotion  of  Sympathy 
arises — ^you  may  indulge  in  it  or  you  may  repress  it ;  this  you  feel; 


198  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

you  have  power  over  it  more  or  less — nay,  in  tlie  course  of  time, 
you  have  a  power  so  complete  that  you  may  almost  entirely  eradi- 
cate it.  It  is  a  known  fact  that  men  are  able  so  completely  to 
abolish  in  themselves  the  feeling  of  Sympathy  that  it  shall  attend 
upon  none  of  their  emotions ;  that  their  own  pain,  their  own  weak- 
ness, their  own  sorrow,  they  shall  feel  with  a  most  acute  and  sen- 
sitive affliction ;  and  shall  see  in  their  neighbours  the  extremest 
instances  of  the  same,  and  feel  no  emotion  leading  them  to  aid. 
This,  as  the  common  experience  of  all,  men  can  see  to  be  a  thing 
that  occurs  not  unfrequently,  and  that  it  arises  from  a  free  and 
intentional  exercise  of  the  Will  over  the  Sympathy,  repressing  it 
so  constantly  and  habitually  that  finally  it  ceases  to  act,  at  least 
as  to  its  functional  actions,  even  although  the  faculty  have  not 
been  entirely  destroyed.  The  natural  deficiency  of  "  Sympathy" 
in  an  individual  is  called  "  Cold-heartedness,"  or  "Apathy,"  or 
an  "  Unsympathizing  Disposition"  in  the  nomenclature  of  Natural 
Ethics.  For  the  Ethical  systems  of  so-called  philosophers  need 
an  artificial  and  invented  nomenclature,  but  the  system  of  Nature 
has  no  deficiency  in  natural  epithets,  or  in  natural  arrangement 
of  the  subtlest  kind. 

The  acquired  deficiency  of  "  Sympathy"  goes  by  another  name, 
the  appellation  of  "Hard-heartedness."  And  there  is  no  doubt 
that  there  are  such  men  as  we  have  described  a  few  paragraphs 
above,  who  have  so  cut  ofi"  the  fountains  of  natural  sympathy  in 
their  bosom,  that  they  shall  walk  through  life  with  an  unfeeling 
eye,  as  cold  as  the  gaze  of  a  marble  statue, — a  heart  never  warmed 
by  aught  of  natural  sympathy  towards  their  fellows,  but  cooly  cal- 
culating upon  the  extra  gain  of  money  that  the  hard  pressure  of 
poverty  upon  their  fellow-men,  or  the  agony  of  distress,  may  wring 
out  from  them  for  themselves.  That  such  a  thing  is  a  very  com- 
mon circumstance  indeed,  is  manifest  to  all. 

But  nature  will  hardly  be  defrauded  of  her  dues,  and  they  who 
have  so  schooled  their  hearts,  in  this  "Education  of  Selfishness," 
towards  their  fellows,  they  often  find  that  for  all  their  gains,  God, 
and  truth,  and  justice,  cannot  be  escaped.  For  he  that  shall  look 
at  this  purposed  closing  of  the  heart  and  the  cutting  off  of  the 
Sympathies,  he  shall  see  that  naturally  it  has  consequences  that 
flow  from  itself  and  do  avenge  it. 

And  first,  to  shut  off  from  our  fellow-men  the  flow  of  our  sym- 
pathies,— ^to  harden  the  heart  voluntarily,  and  look  upon  them 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  IW 

solely  with  an  eye  to  gain, — this  Self-discipline,  if  we  know  any- 
thing of  the  nature  of  the  mind  and  of  its  diseases,  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  a  preparation  and  a  training  for  Insanity.  And 
were  a  physician  to  be  asked  how  a  sound-minded  man  could  the 
soonest  turn  himself  into  a  suicidal  maniac,  by  a  course  of  internal 
and  voluntary  mental  action,  he  would  give  this,  to  cut  off  and 
restrain  the  Sympathies,  so  that  they  should  not  flow  towards  his 
fellows,  that  so  the  Heart  should  be  perfectly  alone  and  isolated 
from  all  participation  and  communion  of  feelings  with  other  human 
beings. 

And  when  we  look  at  the  set  and  fixed  ambition  after  money  of 
the  many,  and  the  keenness  with  which  they  are  alive  to  that  object 
alone,  and  the  coldness  which  they  assume  to  all  besides ;  and 
then  see  the  accumulated  number  of  cases  of  insanity  growing 
year  after  year,  we  do  connect  the  one  with  the  other.  We  do 
say,  if  you  would  have  a  healthy  and  a  sound  mind,  free  from  all 
taint  of  disease,  then  let  your  Sympathies  flow  forth  freely  towards 
the  poor,  the  distressed,  the  miserable,  all  that  need  succour  and 
aid.  "  Rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that 
weep," — and  so  you  secure  much  rejoicing  to  yourselves,  and  avert 
much  misery. 

Again :  I  know  not  how  it  is,  but  it  is  an  observation  of  nature 
that  I  have  made  myself,  and  have  heard  others  make,  who  had 
good  experience  and  thinking  minds,  that  those,  who  to  their  fel- 
low-beings were  "  cold-hearted  "  and  "  unsympathizing,"  to  them 
it  seemed  that  Providence  reached,  in  some  measure,  an  avenging 
hand,  through  their  families,  so  that  these  who  had  secretly,  in 
their  own  hearts,  locked  up  and  closed  for  selfishness-sake  these 
emotions  that  should  have  flowed  out  in  acts  of  compassion  to  their 
fellows, — to  them,  by  the  retributive  justice  of  God,  it  has  been 
allotted  to  find 

"  How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child." 

But  this  is  an  observation  of  Providence,  which,  while  I  may 
bring  it  up  as  a  confirmatory  remark,  I  cannot  clearly  assert  why 
it  should  be  so. 

Upon  these  considerations,  regarding  the  nature  of  Sympathy, 
the  only  question  that  now  remains  to  us,  is  the  rules  that  result 
regarding  it.     And  these  come  mainly  from  its  nature  as  we  have 


200  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

expounded  it.  It  is  in  fact  a  most  true  principle,  that  the  func- 
tions of  a  moral  faculty,  fully  and  adequately  expounded,  shall 
give  true  rules  as  to  its  guidance  in  reference  to  the  external  facts 
to  which  it  is  applicable.  Thus  Sympathy  is  in  us  the  "  faculty," 
and  the  external  fact  of  the  world  to  which  it  corresponds  iB 
"misery."  Sympathy,  then,  bears  us  onward  naturally,  to  take 
a  share  in  others  grief, — this  is  the  nature  of  it  in  us, — and  the 
action  and  end  of  it  is  that  thus  we  may  relieve  misery. 

Now  we  see  many  persons  of  naturally  acute  feelings  of  Sym- 
pathy, who  are  deeply  and  easily  moved  by  facts  of  sorrow  and 
misery,  or  even  by  high-wrought  descriptions  of  it.  They  sympa- 
thize strongly,  the  feeling  is  deeply  moving,  delightful  to  a  gen- 
erous heart,  has  in  itself  something  of  the  noblest  and  loftiest 
character.  And  so  is  it  one  that  is  in  a  measure  pleasurable,  an 
excitement,  a  stimulus ;  nay,  a  luxury, — "  the  luxury  of  woe." 
It  ought  to  be  carried  out  in  action, — not  carried  out,  it  becomes 
a  mere  stimulus,  and  causes  a  moral  disease  of  the  worst  kind,  the 
disease  of  "  Sentimentalism." 

Let  me  not  be  thought  to  exaggerate,  or  to  put  undue  import- 
ance upon  it ;  but  there  is  such  a  disease  of  the  moral  powers,  and 
one  that  is  most  deeply  injurious.  Sympathy  is  given  that  we  may 
share  in  and  feel  the  grief  of  others,  and  from  this  he  led  to  alle- 
viate misery.  And  it  is  no  harm  to  be  susceptible  of  its  influence ; 
nay,  to  be  acutely  and  exquisitely  susceptible.  But  to  indulge  in 
the  feeling,  and  to  cut  it  away  from  the  end ;  this  is  to  harden 
the  heart  to  a  degree  which  hardly  can  be  understood  in  its  mag- 
nitude. 

And  this  is  Sentimentalism,  "  the  indulging  of  the  feelings  of 
sympathy  as  a  stimulus  and  a  mental  excitement,  without  in  any 
way  aiding  the  distressed  or  diminishing  the  sum  of  Human 
Misery." 

Now  I  will  say,  that  upon  reading  the  biography  of  men  of  note 
in  the  world,  some  of  the  least  generous,  the  most  selfish,  and 
the  most  devoid  of  all  true  feeling  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  as 
well  as  some  of  the  most  blood-thirsty  and  obdurate  in  heart, 
villains  without  pity  and  without  remorse,  have  been  of  this  kind. 

Look  at  Rousseau, — the  base,  thieving,  lying  impostor; — ^the 
man  whose  "  Confessions"  are  a  record  so  shameless  of  all  that 
can  degrade  man,  that  the  only  thing  that  can  in  any  way  acquit 
him,  is  the  assertion  of  his  insanity; — the  cold  blooded  wretch,  whose 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  201 

legitimate  children,  immediately  after  birth,  were  placed  in  a 
basket  and  fastened  to  the  gates  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  with 
a  studied  and  systematic  prevention  of  all  future  recognition. 
And  this  wretched  fellow,  overflowed  with  the  finest  Sympathies  ! 

But  they  made  his  stock  in  trade  of  Eloquence  and  Pathos. 
And  he  made  his  bread  by  it,  such  as  it  was.  And  to  himself  he 
was,  while  he  lived,  a  cancerous  misery,  and  to  a  nation  after  his 
death,  the  cause  of  infinite  corruption  and  infinite  sorrow.  This 
is  the  character  of  Rousseau,  I  believe,  fairly  and  moderately 
drawn;  and  I  think  I  may  say  that  the  whole  wretchedness 
of  this  most  miserable  man  arose  from  no  one  thing,  besides  this, 
that,  possessed  of  the  finer  feelings  of  Sympathy  in  the  highest 
and  naturally  the  most  exquisitely  organized  mode,  he  indulged  in 
the  feelings,  and  the  excitement,  and  stimulus  arising  from  them, 
at  the  same  time  never  carrying  them  out  into  action.  And  hence 
the  highest  gifts  that  might  have  ripened  into  the  noblest  charac- 
ter, and  might  even  have  corrected  all  the  evils  and  disadvantages 
of  his  youth,  actually  perverted  his  nature,  and  aided  in  producing 
a  heart  thoroughly  bad. 

We  have  dwelt  upon  him  so  long  that  we  have  hardly  time  to 
mention  any  more,  although  the  tenderness  of  Robespierre's  Sym- 
pathies are  we  believe  matter  of  History.  And  so  of  many  other 
monsters  of  the  same  period.  SuflSce  it  to  say  that  examples 
enough  can  be  found  in  proof  of  our  position,  "  that  an  indulgence 
in  the  feelings  of  Sympathy  without  carrying  them  out  to  the  re- 
lief of  actual  distress,  produces  hardness  of  heart  to  such  a  degree 
that  the  most  pitiless  and  cruel,  the  most  licentious  and  unna- 
tural, and  ungrateful  conduct  shall  be  joined  with  the  most  over- 
flowing and  deeply  thrilling  sentiment."  And  so  shall  natures 
that  were  intended  to  be  of  the  noblest  be  turned  into  the  basest 
and  vilest. 

Having  thus  illustrated  our  position,  we  will  say,  as  a  practical 
conclusion, — "  When  you  feel  the  emotion  of  Sympathy  towards 
distress — ^let  it  always  issue  forth  in  actions,  and  in  relief  of  sor- 
row. Be  even  jealous  of  it  having  any  other  issue.  Let  it  not 
give  eloquence  to  your  tongue  in  describing  it,  save  that  this  be 
made  a  means  to  aid  you  in  relief.  Commit  it  not  to  paper  elo- 
quently, nay  not  at  all,  but  turn  the  whole  current  of  emotion  unto 
the  actual  relief  of  wretchedness ;  and  drain  not  one  streamlet 

26 


202  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

from  the  full  channel  to  devote  to  aught  magnifying  self;  and  so 
upon  your  own  heart  and  moral  character  in  the  fullest  degree 
ghall  you  find  the  eflfects  of  this  first  and  most  blessed  of  all  natural 
afiections." 

In  fact,  the  highest  and  most  ennobling  of  all  actions  of  the 
moral  faculty  is  the  exercise  of  this  quality  under  the  laws  that 
result  from  its  own  nature,  and  the  laws  of  the  governing  powers 
generally.  And  if  the  many  who  are  really  and  truly  anxious  to 
improve  their  moral  nature  by  the  natural  means,  and  who  now  in 
vain  seek  it  in  books  ; — if  the  many  Christians  in  the  Church  that 
wish  to  be  ripened  in  their  hearts  for  Heaven  ;  if  they  only  could 
feel  and  know  in  practical  truth,  the  efiect  of  that  "  Sympathy" 
which  in  secret,  apart  from  all  motives  that  may  he  selfish,  ^^  feels'^ 
distress  and  misery,  and  at  the  same  time  ^''relieves''  and  aids — if 
they  knew  this  and  acted  upon  it,  there  would  be  higher  and  loftier 
characters  in  sociely,  and  a  deeper  and  most  sanctified  Christ- 
ianity. 

As  the  "  Law"  then  of  " sympathy"  we  say  that  the  "feeling" 
is  good  of  itself  morally  when  it  is  joined  with  the  "  action," — bad 
when  it  is  indulged  without  the  action ;  and  as  the  rule  we  say — 
"  never  indulge  an  emotion  of  Sympathy  apart  from  an  attempt  to 
diminish  the  sum  of  misery." 

If  you  can  relieve  distress,  do  it  subject  to  the  law  of  Conscience 
and  of  Reason.  If  it  is  by  any  means  out  of  your  own  power, 
utterly  impossible — then  at  least  you  can  pray  to  (rod  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  relief  to  the  individual — for  prayer  is  action 
of  the  highest  and  noblest  kind ;  but  never  let  an  emotion  of  sym- 
pathy he  excited  in  your  heart  that  you  do  not  aid  misery  in  some 
way, — in  this  way  at  the  least  if  none  other  be  possible. 

And  never  let  it  be  turned  by  you  in  any  way  to  yourself,  your 
glory,  your  praise,  your  benefit,  for  it  is  best  directed,  according 
to  its  nature,  when  wholly  and  entirely  it  tends  to  the  relief  ot 
another's  wretchedness.  Then  best  for  your  own  nature  when  it 
is  wholly  directed  to  another. 

Again, — be  jealous  of  opportunities ;  and  yourself,  personally, 
come  in  contact  with  misery  and  distress  for  the  sake  of  relieving 
them — delegate  as  little  as  you  can  to  others,  for  in  giving  aid  by 
the  hand  of  another  you  give  money — hut  you  give  not  that 
which  is  more  precious  than  money,  personal  sympathy ;  and  you 


THE  HEART  OR  AITECTIONS.  208 

lose  which  is  worth  a  great  deal  more  to  7/ou,  the  moral  schooling 
that  the  actual  and  personal  exercise  of  this  moral  quality  in  your 
own  Spiritual  being  shall  give  to  your  Heart. 

Two  questions  more  complete  the  examination  of  this  subject. 
The  first,  "  are  we  always  to  permit  the  feeling  of  sympathy  when 
it  arises  ?"  The  second,  "  are  we  always  to  relieve  distress  when 
it  occurs?" 

The  first  I  think  we  can  answer  in  the  affirmative,  provided — 
first,  that  it  be  not  forbidden  by  the  Law  of  Conscience  or  the 
Law  of  the  Spiritual  Reason — that  is,  the  law  of  God :  and  se- 
condly, that  the  feeling  be  made  to  issue  forth  in  action. 

Again,  I  think  it  is  manifest  that  Human  misery  is  always  to  he 
diminished  under  the  same  conditions.  For  instance,  a  cheat  and 
an  impostor,  or  the  vilest  character  you  can  conceive,  is  starving — 
and  that  in  consequence  of  his  own  villainies,  or  his  own  profligate 
conduct, — if  you  give  him  money  wherewith  he  may  relieve  his 
misery,  reason  and  experience  tell  you  that  with  that  money  he 
will  purchase  the  means  of  debauchery ;  your  Conscience  and  your 
reason  both  tell  you  therefore  that  the  gift  of  money  is  wrong — 
but  they  tell  you  not  that  therefore  you  are  to  do  nothing.  The 
money  was  only  for  the  purpose  of  relief  of  misery, — and  that 
under  the  circumstances  it  could  not  relieve ;  this  only  excuses  you 
from  aid  in  that  particular  way — you  are  still  bound  to  seek  some 
other  means,  which  shall  effectually  bring  about  the  result. 

Misery  is,  in  all  cases,,  so  far  as  men  are  individually  concerned, 
to  be  alleviated  and  put  an  end  to.  As  far  a-s  men  are  not  con-t 
cerned  individually,  but  where  the  .obligation  of  the  Family  or  the 
Nation  is  concerned,  it  is  manifest  that  it  is  a  different  thing. 
Higher  relations  here  come  in ;  and  the  authoritative  pow-er  of 
inflicting  not  merely  pain,  but  actual  misery  for  beneficial  pur- 
poses, is  a  power  which  belongs  primarily  to  God,  but  to  them 
secondarily,  as  institutions  organized  by  God,  and  serving  to  carry 
out  his  Law. 

But  with  regard  to  personal  misery  between  man  and  man,  I 
think  there  is  little  doubt,  that  when  the  emotion  of  Sympathy  car- 
ries us  towards  the  relief  of  it,  the  failure  of  the  readiest  means, 
or  even  of  many  means  does  not  at  all  excuse  us  from  the  obliga- 
tion to  relieve  it,  but  only  from  the  using  of  that  particular  means. 

And  secondly, — that  it  has  been  the  consequence  of  sin  or  evil 
conduct,  this  by  no  means  is  an  excuse  from  action  of  relief — but 


204  '       CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

between  man  and  man,  the  misery  of  the  individual  man  is  ever  to 
he  relieved,  and  aid  that  shall  do  this  under  the  above  rules  and 
limitations,  never  to  he  refused. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Habit;  Active  and  Passive. — Passage  from  Butler  quoted,  and  practically 
applied. — Affectation. — Sentimentalism. — Unreality,  or  Romance. — Day- 
dreaming.— Remedies  for  these  diseases  of  the  Moral  Nature. 

In  out  last  chapter  we  treated  upon  "  Sympathy,"  because  we 
look  upon  it  as  the  first  of  the  Affections,  and  as  the  one  which 
must  go  with  all  the  rest  in  reference  to  our  own  moral  improve- 
ment and  our  neighbour's ;  a  peculiar  moral  element,  that  is  ca- 
pable of  union  with  all  the  others,  and  therefore  to  be  considered 
as  antecedent  to  them  all.  There  are  some  other  powers  of  the 
same  kind,  which,  if  we  consider  them  now  as  capable  of  being 
united  with  many  of  the  affections,  we  shall  thereby  have  clear 
ideas  of  them ;  if  we  leave  them  to  be  considered  in  their  compli- 
cation with  other  Affections,  we  shall  be  liable  to  great  confusion 
and  indistinctness. 

And  the  first  of  these  considerations  is  this :  "  Upon  the  Affec- 
tions, what  is  the  power  and  itifluence  of  Habit  ?"  There  is  an 
^^ emotion"  for  instance,  of  "Compassion;"  there  is  djx  act  of 
*'  Compassion ;"  there  is  a  hahit  of  "  Compassion.'^  What  is  the 
moral  value  and  the  moral  difference  of  these  three  modes  of  the 
one  Affection  ?  Wherein  is  the  Habit  more  than  the  Emotion  or 
the  Act  ? 

Upon  this  subject  of  Habit  we  shall  enter  in  this  chapter,  and 
"we  clearly  tell  our  readers  that  the  chapter  shall  be  little  more 
than  the  remarks  of  Bishop  Butler  upon  the  point,  with  comments 
of  our  own,  pointing  out  and  illustrating  the  most  important  senti- 
ments in  the  passage  which  we  quote  from  him. 

If  this  book  be  used  in  teaching  Ethics,  we  advise  the  teacher, 
having  himself  practically  realized,  (which  is  to  a  teacher  of 
Ethics  the  most  valuable  process  of  Ethical  knowledge,)  the  influ- 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  205 

ence  upon  morals  of  these  principles  of  Butler,  to  turn  the  atten- 
tion of  his  class  upon  them,  and  line  by  line,  and  word  by  word, 
for  we  count  them  more  precious  than  gold,  to  illustrate,  enforce, 
explain,  by  all  the  means  in  his  power,  until  each  one  feels  the 
principles  and  their  value  in  relation  to  his  own  life ;  and  to  think 
no  time  wasted  that  will  bring  about  this  result. 

And  if,  on  the  other  hand,  our  reader  be  a  student  of  Ethics, 
whose  object  is  as  a  man  to  know  his  own  Heart  and  Nature,  and 
so  to  use  and  apply  its  powers  that  he  may  reach  the  height  that 
his  Nature  and  Position  enable  him  to  attain,  we  ask  of  him  to 
think,  and  think  again,  over  this  passage. 

And  warning  him  to  expect  no  brilliancy  of  expression,  no  elo- 
quence, no  striking  point  or  antithesis  ;  for  as  one  who  was  a  good 
writer  but  no  thinker*  remarks,  "  for  one  who  was  so  wonderful  a 
thinker  as  Butler  there  hardly  ever  was  so  bad  a  writer ;"  I  again 
express  the  opinion  that  the  passage  contains  for  him  who  is  in 
pursuit  of  Ethical  truth  and  Ethical  progress,  principles  more  pre- 
cious than  gold. 

These  principles  are  applicable  to  all  the  moral  powers  as  well 
as  to  the  "Heart,"  but  upon  it  the  bearings  of  them  are  of  the 
deepest  importance.  Here,  therefore,  I  introduce  the  passage,  at 
the  same  time  avowing  that  it  tells  upon  the  whole  moral  life  of 
Man.     Having  thus  premised,  we  shall  now  quote  the  passage. 

"  There  are  habits  of  Perception,  and  habits  of  Action.  An 
instance  of  the  former  is  our  constant  and  even  involuntary  readi- 
ness in  correcting  the  impressions  of  our  sight  concerning  magni- 
tudes and  distances,  so  as  to  substitute  judgment  in  the  room  of 
sensation,  imperceptibly  to  ourselves.  And  it  seems  as  if  aU  other 
associations  of  ideas  not  naturally  connected,  might  be  called 
passive  habits,  as  properly  as  our  readiness  in  understanding  lan- 
guages upon  sight  or  hearing  of  words.  And  our  readiness  in 
speaking  and  writing  them  is  an  instance  of  the  latter,  of  a/:tive 
habits." 

"  For  distinctness,  we  may  consider  habits  as  belonging  to  the 
body  or  the  mind,  and  the  latter  will  be  explained  by  tho  former. 
Under  the  former  are  comprehended  all  bodily  activities  or  mo- 
tions, whether  graceful  or  unbecoming,  which  are  owing  to  use  : 

*  Sir  James  Mackintosh ; — a  very  eloquent  composer  of  beautiful  essajs 
that  have  nothing  in  them,  a  man  in  his  day  much  overpraised. 


206  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

under  the  latter,  general  habits  of  life  and  conduct,  such  as  obedi- 
ence and  submission  to  authority  as  to  any  particular ;  those  of 
veracity,  justice  and  charity;  those  of  attention,  industry,  self- 
government,  revenge.  And  habits  of  this  latter  kind  seem  pro- 
duced by  repeated  acts  as  well  as  the  former.  And  in  like  manner, 
as  habits  belonging  to  the  body  are  produced  by  external  acts,  so 
habits  of  the  mind  are  produced  by  the  exertions  of  inward  prac- 
tical purposes ;  i.  e.,  by  carrying  them  into  act,  or  acting  upon 
them,  the  principles  of  obedience,  of  veracity,  justice,  and  cha- 
rity." 

"  Nor  can  those  habits  be  formed  by  an  external  cause  of  action 
otherwise  than  as  it  proceeds  from  these  principles ;  because  it  is  only 
those  inward  principles  exerted  which  are  strictly  acts  of  obedience, 
of  veracity,  of  justice,  and  of  charity.  So  likewise  habits  of  at- 
tention, industry,  self-government,  are  in  the  same  manner  acquired 
by  exercise ;  and  habits  of  envy  and  revenge  by  indulgence,  whe- 
ther in  outward  act  or  in  thought  and  intention  ;  i.  e.,  inward  act, 
for  such  intention  is  an  act.  Resolutions  also  to  do  well  are  pro- 
perly acts ;  and  endeavouring  to  force  upon  our  own  minds  a 
practical  sense  of  virtue,  or  to  beget  in  others  that  practical  sense 
of  it  which  a  man  really  has  himself,  is  a  virtuous  act.  All  these, 
therefore,  may  and  will  contribute  towards  forming  good  habits." 

"  But  going  over  the  theory  of  virtue  in  one's  thoughts,  talking 
well,  and  drawing  fine  pictures  of  it,  this  is  so  far  from  necessarily 
or  certainly  conducing  to  form  a  habit  of  it  in  him  who  thus  em- 
ploys himself,  that  it  may  harden  the  mind  in  a  contrary  course^ 
and  render  it  gradually  more  insensible  ;  i.  e.,  form  a  habit  of  in- 
sensibility to  all  moral  considerations.  For  from  our  very  facul- 
ties of  habit,  passive  impressions  by  being  repeated  grow  weaker. 
Thoughts,  by  often  passing  through  the  mind,  are  felt  less  sen- 
sibly ;  being  accustomed  to  danger  begets  intrepidity,  ^.  e.,  lessens 
fear ;  to  distress,  lessens  the  passion  of  pity  ;  to  instances  of  other's 
mortality,  lessens  the  sensible  apprehension  of  our  own." 

"  And  from  these  two  observations  together,  that  practical  habits 
are  formed  and  strengthened  by  repeated  acts,  and  that  passive 
impressions  grow  weaker  by  being  repeated  upon  us,  it  must  fol- 
low that  active  habits  may  be  gradually  forming  and  strengthen- 
ing, by  a  course  of  acting  upon  such  and  such  motives  and  excite- 
ments, whilst  these  motives  and  excitements  themselves,  are  by 
proportionable    degrees   growing    less  sensible;    i.  e.,  are  con- 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  207 

tinually  less  and  less  sensibly  felt,  even  as  the  active  habits 
strengthen." 

"  And  experience  confirms  this  ;  for  active  principles  at  the  very 
time  that  they  are  less  lively  in  perception  than  they  were,  are 
found  to  be,  somehow,  wrought  more  thoroughly  into  the  temper 
and  character ;  and  become  more  efiectual  in  influencing  our 
practice." 

"  The  three  things  just  mentioned  may  afford  instances  of  it.  Per- 
ception of  danger  is  a  natural  excitement  of  passive  fear  and 
active  caution,  and  by  being  inured  to  danger,  habits  of  the  latter 
are  gradually  wrought  at  the  same  time  that  the  former  gradually 
lessens.  Perception  of  distress  in  others  is  a  natural  excitement, 
passively  to  pity  and  actively  to  relieve  it ;  but  let  a  man  set  him- 
self to  attend  to,  inquire  out,  and  relieve  distressed  persons,  and 
he  cannot  but  grow  less  and  less  sensibly  affected  with  the  various 
miseries  of  life  with  which  he  must  become  acquainted,  when  yet 
at  the  same  time,  benevolence,  considered  not  as  a  passion  hut  as 
a  practical  principle  of  action, -^WH.  strengthen;  and  whilst  he 
passively  compassionates  the  distressed  less,  he  will  acquire  a 
greater  aptitude  actively  to  assist  and  befriend  them.  So  also  at 
the  same  time  that  the  daily  instances  of  mens  dying  around  us, 
give  us  daily  a  less  sensible  passive  feeling,  or  apprehension  of 
our  own  mortality,  such  instances  greatly  contribute  to  the 
strengthening  a  practical  regard  to  it  in  serious  men ;  i.  e.,  to 
forming  an  habit  of  action  with  a  constant  view  to  it." 

"  And  this  seems  again  further  to  show,  that  passive  impressions 
made  upon  our  minds  hy  admonition,  experience,  example,  though 
they  may  have  a  remote  efficacy  and  a  very  great  one  towards 
forming  active  habits,  yet  can  have  this  efficacy  no  otherwise  than 
hy  inducing  us  to  such  a  course  of  action  ;  and  that  it  is,  not  being 
affected  so  and  so,  but  acting  which  forms  those  habits ;  only  it 
must  be  always  remembered  that  real  endeavours  to  enforce  good 
impressions  upon  ourselves  are  a  species  of  virtuous  action.  Nor 
do  we  know  how  far  it  is  possible,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that 
effects  should  be  wrought  in  us  at  once,  equivalent  to  habits ;  i. «., 
what  is  wrought  by  use  and  exercise." 

"  However,  the  thing  insisted  upon  is,  not  what  may  be  possible, 
but  what  is  in  fact  the  appointment  of  nature ;  which  is,  that 
active  habits  are  to  be  formed  by  exercise.  Their  progress  may  be 
BO  gradual  as  to  be  imperceptible  in  its  steps ;  it  may  be  hard  to 


208  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

explain  tlie  faculty  by  which  we  are  capable  of  habits  throughout 
its  several  parts,  and  to  trace  it  up  to  its  original,  so  as  to  distin- 
guish it  from  all  others  in  our  mind  ;  and  it  seems  as  if  contrary 
eflFects  were  to  be  ascribed  to  it.  But  the  thing  in  general,  that 
our  nature  is  formed  to  yield,  in  some  such  manner  as  this,  to  use 
and  exercise,  is  matter  of  certain  experience." 

"  Thus,  by  accustoming  ourselves  to  any  course  of  action,  we  get 
an  aptness  to  go  on,  a  facility,  readiness,  and  often  pleasure  in  it. 
The  inclinations  which  rendered  us  averse  to  it  grow  weaker  ;  the 
difficulties  in  it,  not  only  the  imaginary  hut  the  real  ones,  lessen; 
the  reasons  for  it,  offer  themselves  of  course  to  our  thoughts  upon 
all  occasions,  and  the  least  glimpse  of  them  is  sufficient  to  make  us 
go  on  in  a  course  of  action  to  which  we  have  been  accustomed."* 

"  And  practical  principles  appear  to  grow  stronger  absolutely  in 
themselves  by  exercise,  as  well  as  relatively  with  regard  to  contrary 
principles,^  which  by  being  accustomed  to  submit,  do  so  habitu- 
ally and  of  course ;  and  thus,  a  new  character  in  several  respects 
may  be  formed,  and  many  habitudes  of  life,  not  given  by  nature 
hut  which  nature  directs  us  to  acquire." 

"We  have  taken  the  liberty,  in  reference  to  the  truth  of  these 
observations  from  Butler,  for  the  sake  of  greater  distinctness  of 
impression  upon  the  students  of  this  book,  first,  to  divide  the  ex- 
tract into  paragraphs,  and  secondly,  to  mark  with  italics  the 
passages  which  we  wish  them  to  reflect  upon  more  attentively ;  and 
having  made  these  observations,  we  shall  proceed  to  consider  it  in 
the  way  of  comment  and  remark. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  affections,  our  readers  will  have  seen  that 
there  are  three  modes  of  their  action  ;  the  first  is  the  feeling,  or 
emotion  ;  the  second,  the  action ;  and  the  third,  the  habit ;  and 
with  regard  to  these,  it  is  manifestly  a  thing  deserving  of  considera- 
tion, to  examine  wherein  does  Virtue  as  regards  the  Affections 
consist. 

And  first,  with  regard  to  the  Emotion,  when  we  consider  what 
has  been  said  in  the  last  chapter,  we  shall  see  that  in  respect  to 
any  affection  of  the  Heart,  the  Emotion  considered  by  itself  may 
exist  along  with  a  great  degree  of  viciousness  of  heart  and  life^ 
even  as  regards  that  very  virtue  it  was  intended  to  promote. 

*  I  would  wish  my  reader  to  weigh  this  well  in  reference  to  Conscience. 
t  And  this  also  is  most  important  in  regard  to  all  the  moral  powers. 


THE  HEABT  OR  AFFECTIONS.  209 

For  instance,  in  the  vicious  sentimentalist,  such  as  Rousseau  or 
Sterne,  the  Emotion  of  Pity  may  be  exceeding  great,  and  yet  the 
virtue  of  Pity  have  no  existence,  and  the  vice  of  baseness  and 
hardness  of  heart  be  most  luxuriant  in  growth. 

Again,  in  this  world,  the  fact  is,  that  the  Heart  of  the  vicious  is 
not  entirely  hardened,  only  partially ;  and  then  the  emotions  that 
would  lead  the  man  against  that,  his  particular  vice,  these  only 
are  steadily  checked,  while  the  others  are  not  checked  but  seem  to 
flourish.  So  have  we  in  our  own  experience  seen  a  man  utterly 
licentious,  in  whom  the  feeling  of  justice  in  money  matters  was 
so  great  that  he  prided  himself  upon  it  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 
We  have  seen  one  most  dishonest,  whose  sense  and  feeling  of  Com- 
passion was  so  great,  that  to  his  sick  and  distressed  neighbours, 
that  same  man,  who  when  they  were  in  health  would  act  in  the  most 
rapacious  way  to  them,  would  be  the  most  kind-hearted  and  the 
most  sympathizing  of  attendants  upon  the  sick-bed.  And  again, 
those  who  to  the  world  have  been  cruel  and  harsh,  by  the  force  of 
the  natural  feeling  have  overflowed  with  natural  afi"ection  towards 
their  own  family. 

Nay,  from  experience  and  history,  we  conclude  that  the  heart 
of  no  man,  while  upon  this  earth,  is  so  utterly  hardened,  so  that 
the  fountain  of  all  his  Emotions  shall  be  entirely  closed ;  but  in  all 
men,  there  remains  still  some  feeling  of  the  Heart  which  shall  flow 
forth  to  their  fellow-men,  so  that  some  shall  love  them  still.  The 
monster  Nero  had  still  some  fellow-being,  who  had  loved  him,  to 
scatter  flowers  upon  his  grave ;  and  the  hideous  Marat,  and  the 
cold-hearted  and  merciless  Robespierre,  had  surviving  friends  that 
could  weep  for  them.  ^^ 

In  the  mere  emotion,  then,  the  moral  value  of  the  virtue  does 
not  rest ;  or  rather  the  highest  possible  amount  of  emotion  may 
exist,  and  yet  there  be  no  moral  value  in  it  at  all.  Or  to  speak 
more  precisely,  such  an  amount  of  emotion  as  ought  to  lead 
naturally  to  any  one  virtue,  may  exist  along  with  the  most  utter 
viciousness  of  life  and  action,  even  in  respect  to  that  virtue.  In 
Emotion,  therefore,  whether  considered  in  reference  to  intensity. 
or  continuance,  the  virtue  does  not  consist, — not  even  in  the  very 
emotion  that  is  kindred  to  the  virtue  and  leads  naturally  to  it. 

Again ;  with  regard  to  Action,  it  is  perfectly  manifest  that  mo- 
mentary or  irregular  actions,  in  consequence  of  the  Emotion,  may 
be  done  without  any  true  merit  or  true  value  belonging  to  them. 

2T 


210  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

For  instance,  the  above  persons  specified, — the  dishonest  man  did 
acts  of  true  compassion  from  the  emotion  of  Pity, — the  licentious 
man  acts  of  true  honesty  from  the  emotion  of  Honesty, — and  he 
who  was  utterly  cruel  to  the  world,  acts  of  true  Afi"ection ;  and 
yet  none  would  call  them  moral  men,  even  in  those  acts. 

Nay  further,  it  is  manifest  that  acts,  which  in  themselves  upon 
principle  had  been  good,  may  be  done  upon  grounds  entirely  unbe- 
nevolent,  and  motives  entirely  selfish,  and  so  be  evil.  So  the  man 
who  acts  in  a  strict  compliance  with  the  laws  of  Honesty,  or  the 
dictates  of  AiFection,  for  a  course  of  many  years,  in  order  that 
thereby  he  may  attain  to  such  a  character  as  will  put  him  in  a 
position  in  which  he  may  be  enabled  to  defraud  largely.  From  these 
instances,  it  is  manifest  that  Action,  and  especially  momentary 
Action,  is  not  necessarily  virtuous. 

And  in  addition  to  this,  we  would  practically  remark,  that  in 
accordance  with  the  principle  that  evil  is  a  deficiency,  goodness 
consists  of  many  elements^  all  of  which,  especially  as  far  as  con- 
cerns the  Afiections,  must  go  to  making  it  up  ;  and  the  deficiency 
of  one  element  shall  be  evil.  And  one  evil  ingredient  shall  be 
enough  to  destroy  a  whole  character. 

But  to  resume,  with  regard  to  the  Afiections,  we  have  shown 
that  the  "Emotion"  has  not  necessarily  a  moral  character,  that 
the  Action  upon  the  Emotion  in  itself,  is  not  of  necessity  vir- 
tuous. But  the  Hahit  shall  be  so,  according  to  the  principle  laid 
down  here  by  Bishop  Butler, — that  is,  the  Sahit  of  acting  steadily 
upon  the  emotion  as  a  *  fixed  principle  and  law  of  life. 

He,  therefore,  who  feels  in  himself  generous  and  lofty  emotions 
of  the  Heart,  or  tenderness  and  kindness  of  feeling,  if  he  would  im- 
prove the  natural  advantages  that  he  has,  let  Mm  not  dwell  in  the 
emotion,  as  something  in  itself  satisfactory  ;  still  less  let  him  con- 
tent himself  with  the  applause  of  those  he  benefits,  or  even  the 
approval  of  his  own  Heart  upon  straggling  and  desultory  actions, 
done  at  hap  hazard,  upon  the  spur  of  the  mere  emotion. 

Let  him  act  upon  it,  steadily  and  habitually,  until  it  form  itself 
as  a  principle^  of  his  conduct,  and  so  shall  that  be  easy  to  him 
that  required   efibrt,  and  that  habitual  that  was  done  with  a 

♦  Herein  are  the  Affections  connected  with  the  Reason.    See  in  the  Second 
Book,  the  Chapter  wherein  Moral  Principle  is  examined. 
t  See  again  the  rules  of  Moral  Principle,  in  the  Scoond  Book. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  211 

Btniggle.  For  "  Emotion  "  is  not  in  itself  virtuous,  or  the  means  of 
"  moral  progress,"  nor  is  action  considered  by  itself,  but  virtue  is 
in  ^^Hdbity'  ajid  virtue  is  a  ^^Habit."  And  to  act  steadily  and 
systematically  upon  one  affection  of  the  Heart,  until  this  become  a 
principle,  habitual,  and  even  unnoticed  in  its  impression,  but  con- 
stant and  ever-present,  this  is  the  way  of  moral  progress  by  means 
of  the  Affections. 

And  as  it  is  in  reference  to  the  Spiritual  Reason,  that  he  who  acta 
in  view  of  one  of  the  "qualities  of  God,"  steadily  and  calmly  so 
that  "moral  perception"  becomes  "moral  principle,"  to  him  shall 
another  open ;  so  is  it  with  regard  to  these  emotions  of  the  Heart 
that  bind  us  to  our  fellow-men.  That  the  Emotions  should  lead 
to  the  Action,  and  both  be  interwoven  into  the  chain  of  Habit, 
which  finally  becomes  of  our  nature, — this  opens  new  fountains 
and  leads  the  way  to  a  greener  verdure,  a  more  luxuriant  growth. 

Have  no  emotions,  then,  towards  your  fellows,  of  benevolence, 
pity,  or  compassion,  that,  under  the  Supremacy  of  the  Conscience 
and  the  Law  of  Reason,  you  do  not  act  upon ;  none  that  you  do 
not  form  into  a  principle  and  a  habit  of  life. 

For,  as  in  a  future  world,  we  must  conceive  the  same  bodies  to 
arise  and  the  same  features  to  be  possessed  by  them,  and  yet  shall 
they  be  perfect  in  beauty  and  radiant  with  the  light  of  heaven  ; 
and  therefore  each  form  and  each  face  here  upon  earth,  must  con- 
tain the  elements  of  a  celestial  beauty  peculiar  to  itself,  and  yet 
of  the  highest  and  most  exceeding  glory ;  so  even  in  this  world, 
all  characters,  even  those  that  have  been  the  most  utterly  vile, 
have  had,  in  their  Heart,  the  elements  of  an  exceeding  and  pecu- 
liar loveliness  of  the  Affections,  which  might  have  shown  forth 
from  them  as  a  celestial  halo. 

Men  know  not  the  power  of  the  Affections,  acted  upon  as  habits, 
to  renew  the  whole  character.  They  are  so  besotted  with  mere 
mental  influences  and  the  belief  that  everything  can  be  done  by 
arguing,  and  information,  and  talking,  that  they  do  not  see  the 
power  of  the  Heart.  Here,  I  will  suppose,  is  a  man  of  the  hardest 
heart,  and  the  most  avaricious  and  grasping  habits,  or  a  man  of 
the  harshest  temper,  or  of  the  greatest  selfishness.  Let  that  man, 
seeing  his  own  faults,  let  him  go  forth  with  only  the  one  word,  "J 
foiU,"*  and  translate  that  word  into  action  of,  and  upon  the  Affec- 

•  Here  Intention  or  Purpose  comes  in  manifestly,  and  therefore  here  is  seen 
the  connexion  of  the  Will  with  the  Affections. 


212  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

tions.  even  although  the  feeling  be  almost  frozen  and  dead  in  him, 
that  action  shall  awaken  the  Feeling  a  little.  And  this,  attended 
by  the  "  Will,"  shall  move  again  towards  another  action.  And  the 
Action  again  shall  increase  the  Feeling,  and  so  until  the  whole 
force  of  the  Heart  is  awakened.  And  then,  under  Habit,  it  shall 
become  a  Principle,  and  way  be  made  for  another,  and  again 
another,  until  the  man  to  his  neighbour's  view  is  entirely  changed. 
And  by  a  reverse  process,  the  most  lovely  Nature  is  capable  of 
being  hardened  until  it  be  utterly  deformed. 

Let  no  one  then  despair  because  of  deficiencies  of  natural  tem- 
per ;  for  the  coldest*  heart  may  glow,  the  most  selfish  heart  be 
generous,  the  most  irritable  be  calm  and  meek,  the  most  stern  and 
rude  become  gentle  and  courteous,  but  it  is  no  mental  effort  that 
does  all  this,  none  but  a  moral  one  ;  the  efiect  of  the  "  Will"  and  the 
"  Afiections"  and  the  Reason  acting  upon  the  character  by  the  laws 
of  their  nature. 

This  is  no  mysterious  or  baffling  discipline,  it  is  a  thing  that  each 
man  can  do ;  a  practical  rule  that  all  can  act  upon.  Let  them  try 
it,  and  they  will  see  it  to  be  a  true  one.  For  as  the  ancient  Grecian 
Sculptor  saw  in  the  block  of  unhewn  marble,  the  statue  that  in 
his  mind  he  had  pictured  forth  as  to  be  made  from  it,  and  said, 
"  This  marble  contains  that  statue,  and  I  shall  uncover  it ;"  and 
did  not  say,  "  I  shall  make  it,"  but  "I  shall  uncover  it,"  as  if  all 
his  work  were  merely  the  removing  of  portions  of  marble  that 
covered  and  hid  the  image ;  so  it  is  with  the  mass  of  men — ^they 
are,  as  far  as  the  high  Ideal  image  of  moral  beauty  is  concerned, 
shapeless,  and  yet  there  lies  in  each  and  every  one  of  them  an 
image  and  a  translucent  glory  of  moral  loveliness  that  even  in  this 
life  can  be  "  uncovered." 

But  Educating  as  the  notion  goes  will  not  do  it ;  Information 
will  not  do  it ;  Knowledge  or  mere  Mental  Culture  will  not  do  it. 
The  onli/  thing  that  will  produce  these  results  upon  the  moral  cha- 
racter is  direct  cultivation  of  the  moral  powers  of  the  Affections. 
And  this  that  we  call  loveliness  of  temper  is  to  be  reached  only  in 
this  way,  by  "the  Will"  and  "the  Afiections,"  directly  and  con- 
sciously acting. 

Again,  we  would  notice  the  fact  laid  down  by  Butler,  that  "Pas- 
sive Habits"  as  he  calls  them  somewhat  infelicitously,  or  as  they 
might  be  called  "  habits  of  impression,"  grow  weaker  from  repeated 
action,  while  habits  of  "  action  upon  Principle"  grow  stronger. 


THE  HEART  OR  APFECTIONS.  218 

Two  most  important  conclusions  are  to  be  made  from  this  maxim, 
especially  by  the  young. 

The  first  is,  that  he  who  shall  desire  to  do  a  moral  act,  especially 
one  belonging  to  the  afiections,  an  act  of  compassion  or  pity  :  he 
shall  often  ^wc?  himself  carried  on  towards  it  hy  a  rush  and  glow 
of  emotion,  which  shall  at  the  same  time  he  the  highest  inducement 
to  the  action,  and  in  some  measure  its  highest  reward.  Upon  form- 
ing the  principle,  and  going  upon  it  steadily,  this  glow  shall  dimin- 
ish, he  shall  no  longer  feel  the  emotion  as  he  felt  it  at  first;  but 
instead  of  it  shall  come  a  calm,  settled,  tranquil  conviction  of  doing 
as  he  should  do  according  to  his  nature — a  mingled  feeling  of  kind- 
liness, and  wisdom,  and  patience,  and  assurance,  and  joy,  perma- 
nent and  unexcitable,  which  shall  take  the  place  of  the  first  aaid 
more  vehement^motion. 

Now  I  would  caution  the  young  not  to  think  of  that  first  emo- 
tion otherwise  than  as  a  temporary  aid  to  carry  them  onward  over 
the  gulf  of  old  habit,  so  as  to  do  that  they  were  unaccustomed  to 
do ;  otherwise  than  as  a  stimulus  to  carry  out  the  feeling  to  action, 
until  it  is  delivered  over  to  Sahit  and  Principle ;  and  to  think 
that  that  feeling  must  pass  away,  and  that  if  we  would  live  in  it 
we  could  not.  And  the  attempt  to  Iceep  it  up  in  the  mind,  instead 
of  carrying  it  out  into  "Action"  and  "Principle,"  and  thereby 
confirming  the  Habit,  and  so  changing  Emotion  into  virtue,  this, 
shall  end  as  the  use  of  bodily  stimulants  does  upon  the  body,  in 
ruin  and  destruction  of  the  tone  and  health  of  the  moral  power. 

But  to  carry  the  Emotion  into  Action,  and  both  by  Sabit  into 
Principle,  this  makes  and  forms  a  virtue,  and  from  that  comes  the 
deep  and  calm  self-assurance  that  we  have  spoken  of. 

And  to  those  who  understand  not  this,  but  imagine  the  "  emo- 
tion" to  be  a  thing  especially  desirable  to  keep  up,  it  is  a  very  cus- 
tomary thing  to  seek  after  means  whereby  they  may  so  stimulate 
the  feeling  as  to  retain  it  in  its  original  strength.  The  readiest 
means  to  this  is,  first,  our  own  mental  powers  internally,  and 
secondly,  language,  or  the  speaking  much  about  the  matter. 
These  are  the  usual  means  employed. 

Now,  with  regard  to  these,  let  any  one  consider  Butler's  prin- 
ciple, "  that  going  over  the  theory  of  virtue  in  one's  thoughts,  talk- 
ing well  and  drawing  fine  pictures  of  it,  this  is  so  far  from  neces- 
sarily or  certainly  conducing  to  form  a  habit  of  it  in  him  who  thus 
employs  himself ^  that  it  may  harden  the  mind  in  a  contrary  course, 


214  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

and  gradually  render  it  more  insensible  ;  that  is,  form  a  habit  of 
insensibility  to  all  moral  considerations  J"  Let  a  man  consider  this 
principle,  and  he  shall  plainly  see  that  it  is  perfectly  possible  that 
a  man  may  be  led  to  believe  that  he  is  improving  his  Affections, 
'  -while  at  the  same  time,  by  trying  to  stimulate,  he  is  destroying 
them.  For  emotion  carries  us  to  act,  it  exists  without  words  and 
without  reasoning,  being  independent  of  both,  and  in  a  higher 
sphere;  to  bring  it,  then,  into  words,  is  so  far  to  destroy  its 
power,  seeing  that  it  naturally  terminates  in  actions,  and  the  pro- 
cess that  Butler  speaks  of  is  to  stop  it  short  of  that  its  end. 

But  to  bring  forth  another  principle.  ^^Resolutions  in  the  mind 
to  do  weU  are  properly  acts  J'  So  that  over  and  above  the  mental 
actions  specified  in  the  extract,  which  harden  the  feelings,  there 
are  others  that  are  real  actions  of  the  mind,  that  do  not  do  so,  but 
quite  the  contrary. 

From  these  two  principles,  then,  we  draw  the  second  conclusion, 
**  that  all  mental  action  upon  ourselves  or  others  that  tends  merely 
to  stimulate  and  keep  up  emotion  is  directly  injurious,  and  tends 
to  destroy  the  Affections  and  the  moral  powers  generally." 

The  observations  made  upon  "Sentimentalism,"  in  the  last 
chapter,  are  more  fully  confirmed  by  those  upon  Habit  in  this. 
We,  therefore,  shall  proceed  to  other  diseases  of  the  same  kind ; 
they  may  be  enumerated  as  "Affectation,"  "Unreality,  or  Ro- 
mance," and  "Day-dreaming." 

Now,  with  regard  to  Affectation,  it  is  only  a  slighter  form  of 
Sentimentalism, — a  mental  state  in  which  an  individual  of  naturally 
noble  feelings,  instead  of  carrying  the  feeling  out  into  action, 
merely  speaks  of  it,  and  praises  it ;  at  first,  from  a  real  and  over- 
flowing apprehension  of  its  moral  beauty,  and  finally,  from  cus- 
tom, vanity,  or  any  sort  of  notion  of  being  "eloquent,"  or  "in- 
interesting,"  or  "  agreeable,"  or  "  entertaining" — ^until  the  tongue 
comes  to  run  over  and  parrot  a  set  of  phrases  that  did  originally 
signify  and  convey  feeling,  but  now  have  no  such  meaning  or 
power.  A  very  slight  fault  this,  and  very  usual  in  youth.  The 
sorrows  and  the  strifes  of  life,  however,  usually  amend  it,  and  the 
man  or  the  woman  who  has  been  forced  by  them  really  to  feel,  often 
looks  back  with  a  kind  of  wonder  and  astonishment  at  the  mock 
pathos  and  affected  fervor  of  his  youth. 

Unreality  is  another  thing  of  the  same  kind,  a  feeling  towards 
high,  and  noble,  and  generous  actions,  of  admiration  and  self- 


THE   HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  215 

esteem,  which  thinks  that  these  are  easy  to  ourselves,  and  there- 
fore is  ready  to  undertake  everything  of  this  kind,  but  has  not 
counted  the  cost.  An  uncalculating  generosity  it  is,  arising  in  the 
very  contrary  direction  from  Sentimentalism — for  the  "  Senti- 
mentalist" substitutes  his  own  flights  of  emotion,  and  his  glowing 
words  for  true  action ;  but  the  man  who  is  "  Unreal,"  he  has 
looked  at  things.as  they  are  presented  to  him  ordinarily  in  litera- 
ture, surrounded  by  a  glow  of  Romance,  a  halo  of  rainbow  colors  ; 
he  takes  them  to  be  such  as  they  are  represented,  and  hence  no 
appreciation  has  he  of  the  truth  and  the  fact.  Garlands  of  flowers 
for  him  festoon  all  circumstances.  Odors,  not  of  Araby,  but  of 
"Lubin  et  Cie,  a  Paris,"  breathe  a  soft  fragrance;  the  whole 
world  is  a  Boudoir  to  him : — and  he  does  not  understand  what  it  i» 
to  struggle  and  to  endure,  to  hear  and  to  forbear. 

The  Literature  of  the  day  has  done  this, — ^it  has  created  this 
Unreality, — it  presents  stimulating  fiction  and  sweetly  poisonous 
untruth  to  the  young,  who  spend  upon  these  dreams  the  nobleness 
of  feeling,  and  fervor  of  heart,  that  truly  cherished  and  truly  ex- 
pended, would  lead  to  the  loftiest  action.  And  then,  at  the  first 
real  contact  with  life,  they  find  the  falsehood  and  untruth  of  these 
Romantic  views, — they  fling  them  aside,  and  with  them,  too  often, 
alas  !  the  nobleness  of  feeling  that  had  been  thus  mislaid  upon  an 
imaginary  world,  and  sink  into  calculating  Selfishness, — the  fixed 
determination  of  mind,  that  all  nobleness,  all  tenderness  of  thought, 
all  generosity  of  heart  is  folly  and  imagination,  and  that  self  is  all 
and  in  all. 

And  hence  it  is,  that  they  who  might  have  been  the  noblest, 
sink  into  self-enjoying  Epicureans,  whose  business  and  thought  is 
that  of  the  old  pagan:  "Eat,  drink,  enjoy  thyself,  the  rest  is 
not  worth  a  fillip."*  Or  else  the  still  lower  and  viler  sentiment 
engraved  upon  the  tomb  of  the  English  Poet : 

"  Life's  a  jest,  and  all  things  show  it; 
I  thought  80  once,  and  now  I  know  it.'^f 

And  this  Epicureanism  is  destroying  the  Educated  Classes :  they 
are  perishing  and  decaying  by  it.     And  they  who  have  been  led 

*  Inscription  upon  the  tomb  of  Sardanapalus. 

t  How  wretched  in  life  must  the  man  have  been,  if  these  sentiments  were 
really  and  truly  the  opinion  of  his  heart.  Although  perhaps  we  may  charitably 


216  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

by  their  strife  "witli  poverty  and  labor  from  childhood,  to  feel  the 
world  as  it  is  as  a  reality,  and  life  as  a  reality,  they  fight  their 
way  to  the  wealth  the  others  waste, — that  their  children  may  go 
through  the  same  process  of  self-indulgence  and  consequent  mental 
and  bodily  decay. 

We  have  spoken  of  this  at  length ;  we  say  to  the  rich :  "  Train 
your  children  in  religion,  a  disciplinary  religion,  a  religion,  not  of 
emotion,  but  of  duty.  Let  them  feel  and  know  a  power  superior 
to  Wealth ;  let  the  Home,  a  holy  Home,  open  their  minds  to  the 
sense  of  the  Unseen  God  and  His  realities, — to  the  Affections  of 
the  Heart,  to  an  obedience  to  the  Conscience,  and  to  a  sense  of' 
the  power  and  glory  of  the  Will.  Let  the  Father  train  the  child 
to  Obedience,  and  the  Mother  to  Love,  and  the  Clergyman  to  a 
Religion  verifying  itself  in  Faith  and  Works.     And  so  shall  he 

suppose  that  they  were  rather  the  offspring  of  that  good-natured  foolhardi- 
ness  by  which,  in  the  last  century,  men  of  Genius  were  seduced  into  trifling 
with  subjects,  upon  which  they  actually  believed  with  trembling,  in  order 
to  show  their  wit.  --    "• 

That  such  might  have  been  the  case  with^p^r  good-natured  Gay,  we  may 
believe.  But  it  was  carrying  the  joke  too  fax,  Tj^  inscribe  such  blasphemous 
flippancy  upon  a  tomb  !  "^^ 

How  much  loftier  and  truer  are  the  lines  of  our  great  American  poet,  Long«„ 
fellow: 

"  Tell  me  not  in  mournful  numbers, 
Life  is  but  an  empty  dream, 
For  the  soul  is  dead  that  slumbers, 
And  things  are  not  what  they  seem. 

Life  is  real !  life  is  earnest ! 
And  the  Grave  is  not  its  goal ; 
Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest, 
Was  not  spoken  to  the  soul. 

Not  enjoyment,  and  not  sorrow, 
Is  our  destined  end  or  way. 
But  to  act,  that  each  to-morrow 
Find  us  further  than  to-day. 


Let  us  then  be  up  and  doing. 
With  a  heart  for  any  fate, 
Still  achieving,  still  pursuing : 
Learn  to  labor  and  to  wait." 


THE  HEABT  OR  AFFECTIONS.  217 

grov  up  as  a  Man,  not  as  an  animal  whose  one  idea  is  that  enjoy- 
ment of  the  senses  is  all,  and  that  riches  is  all-mighty  to  procure 
this  enjoyment,  and  that  the  whole  world  has  for  this  reason  only 
its  existence.  And  so  he  shall  not,  because  he  has  merely  grown 
up  as  an  animal  (for  it  is  not  Education),  be  prepared  to  give  up 
to  a  stimulating  and  unreal  literature,  whatsoever  natural  earnest- 
ness and  natural  nobility  there  was  in  his  Heart." 

"Let  not  this  be  so,  but  let  the  child  have,  and  obtain  a  truly 
religious  training,  and  then  this  sense  of  Unreality,  this  hankering 
after  stimulants  for  the  mind,  this  inward  Selfishness  of  Heart 
shall  be  abated." 

And  for  those  who  feel  that  Romance  and  Unreality  makes  a 
part  of  their  moral  character,  and  who  would  themselves  get  rid 
of  it,  I  should  think  that  an  abstinence  from  such  literature,  a 
direct  contact,  self-sought,  with  the  misery  and  sorrow  of  existence 
in  the  way  of  relief  and  sympathy,  as  well  as  a  direct  and  steady 
employment  and  object  in  life,  would  be  of  great  service. 

And  above  all  things,  I  would  recommend  as  a  remedy  for  Un- 
reality and  Romance,  a  duty  enjoined  in  the  -Scriptures  as  a  Spi- 
ritual discipline, — the  duty  of  fasting.  I  mean  not  merely  the 
change  of  one  kind  of  food  for  another,  but  an  actual  abstinence,  for 
a  set  time,  from  all  food,  say  once  in  the  week,  of  course  under  the 
advice  of  a  physician, — so  that  it  shall  not  be  an  injury  to  the  con- 
stitution,— but  with  this  limitation,  fasting  sharp  and  severe,  so  as 
to  acquaint  the  man  with  the  suffering  of  hunger.  It  is  astonish- 
ing how  much  Unreality  this  will  do  away  with,  how  much  Ro- 
mance it  will  destroy ;  how  much  sympathy  with  poverty  and 
misery  it  will  produce.  It  is  a  Spiritual  Discipline,  prescribed  in 
the  New  Testament,  and  we  here  advise  it  as  a  remedy,  much  to 
be  used. 

We  now  go  on  to  speak  of  "Day  Dreaming,"  or  "Building 
Castles  in  the  air." 

Now  to  bring  this  forward  in  a  book  upon  morals,  may  seem,  to 
some,  superfluous.  And  yet,  we  believe,  to  notice  it,  is  absolutely 
necessary,  for  it  is  a  disease  of  the  two  noblest  powers  of  man,  the 
Imagination*  and  the  Affections.  And  one  which,  we  are  con- 
vinced, from  our  experience  as  an  educator,  wastes  more  energy 

*  "What  is  called  Imagination,  distinguished  rigidly  from  Fancy,  is  a  great 
deal  more  nearly  akin  to  the  Spiritual  Reason,  than  men  imagine. 

28 


218  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  destroys  more  naturally  high  and  lofty  minds,  than  perhaps 
any  other. 

The  Day-dreamer  feels  himself  limited  in  power  by  the  situation 
wherein  he  is  placed ;  ordinary  life  is  not  enough  for  him,  but  he 
would  do  wonders  of  Benevolence,  requiring  mines  of  wealth  and 
inexhaustible  power.  Therefore,  he  turns  away  with  disgust  from 
active  life,  and  revels  in  dreams  of  overflowing  wealth,  of  which  he 
is  the  possessor  and  the  dispenser,  and  of  lofty  and  splendid  deeds, 
of  which  he  is  the  hero ;  and  inwardly,  upon  the  theatre  of  a  prolific 
fancy,  he  enacts  many  scenes  which  would,  in  themselves,  be 
perfectly  ridiculous,  but  for  their  sad  effects  upon  the  mind  of  the 
man. 

For  life  and  its  duties  pass  by  him  unheeded,  while  he  is  occu- 
pied with  these  inward  visions ;  mental  energy  is  dissipated  by 
the  morbid  effect  of  the  Imagination ;  decision  of  action  and  of 
aim  is  utterly  lost ;  and  too  often,  alas  !  it  is  directly  true  that, 
according  to  the  principle  of  Bishop  Butler,  "  the  going  over  the 
theory  of  virtue,  and  drawing  fine  pictures  of  it,  is  so  far  from 
necessarily  or  certainly  conducing  to  form  a  habit  of  virtue  in  him, 
who  thus  employs  employs  himself,  that  it  may  harden  the  mind  in 
a  contrary  direction."  I  consider  that  this  "  day-dreaming," 
upon  these  grounds,  is  directly  injurious  to  the  Moral  powers, 
directly  Evil. 

Hitherto  we  have  supposed  it  innocent,  as  far  as  the  thoughts 
are  concerned,  but  often,  especially  in  those  not  baptized  with  the 
baptism  of  Christ,  it  is  the  introducer  to  direct  sin.  It  leads  in 
wandering  thoughts  and  these  become  gradually  vicious  and  evil, 
thoughts  of  rioting,  lasciviousness,  violence,  avarice,  revenge,  in- 
dulged in,  cherished  by  the  Heart,  and  swarming  in  it,  ready  to 
burst  forth  into  evil  words  and  evil  actions,  before  the  man  is  him- 
self aware  of  it. 

For  '■'■  tliought"  as  Butler  remarks,  "is  action,"  *' words  are 
actions,"  and  "  deeds  are  action."  That  is,  thoughts  voluntarily/ 
cherished,  assented  to,  agreed  with, — "words  freeli/  and  intentionally 
spoken — acts  willingly  done — all  these  are  action  for  which  we 
are  responsible. 

And  so  does  it  often  happen,  owing  to  the  seductive  influence  of 
this  vice  of  the  moral  habits,  that  in  the  family,  unknown  to  the 
parents,  the  youth  shall  have  been  laying  up  for  years  the  materi- 
als for  a  moral  explosion  that  shall  bring  upon  him  sudden  ruin 


THE  HEART  OB  AFFECTIONS.  219 

and  destruction.  Well  was  it  that  our  Saviour  placed  in  the  Heart 
the  "issues  of  life  and  death,"  truly  according  to  the  facts  and  the 
reality  of  our  nature,  did  he  insist  upon  watching  over  the 
"  Heart ;"  for  there  is  the  source  of  almost  all  evil. 

Now  in  reference  to  this  disease  so  expounded,  I  give  this  advice ; 
first : 

Let  the  person  who  has  fallen  into  the  hahit  of  "  Day  Dream- 
ing," let  him  set  before  himself,  in  view,  a  fixed  and  determinate  end 
to  fulfil,  an  object  and  employment  in  life  that  he  judges  worthy  of 
an  efibrt,  and  let  him  steadily  struggle  and  labour  towards  it  with 
all  his  energies  and  all  his  powers.  Again,  let  him  avoid  solitude, 
as  this  especially  gives  room  for  these  reveries  of  the  Imagination, 
and  keep  in  society,  except  so  much  as  may  be  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  business  of  life.  If  alone,  let  him  be  employed ;  for 
an  idle  solitude,  an  unbusy  loneliness,  is  in  itself  a  temptation  to 
reverie.  And  lastly,  let  him  avoid  long  sleep  in  the  morning  as 
enervating  to  the  body  and  the  mind ;  for  in  fact,  the  state  of  morn- 
ing sleep,  half  dreaming,  half  awake,  is  injurious  to  men's  ener- 
gies, mainly  because  it  leads  to  this  habit  of  dreaming  reverie. 

And  as  the  last  and  most  efficient  remedy,  especially  if  those 
scattered  and  wandering  thoughts  have  become  evil  and  have  led  to 
evil ;  I  advise  the  person,  especially  if  a  youth  under  the  care  of 
a  religious  and  thoughtful  Father  and  Mother,  to  lay  open  to  them 
under  strict  confidence,  the  state  of  his  mind,  and  to  be  of  them 
guided  as  to  his  conduct.  For  evil  thoughts  hidden  shall  rankle 
and  become  as  ulcers  to  the  moral  being;  whereas  laid  open 
to  the  eye  of  a  Father  or  a  Mother,  they  shall  by  their  care  be 
healed. 

And  here  I  would  add  a  remark  for  the  Parent  and  for  the 
Child.  The  fact  is,  that  between  a  "  Lawyer  "  and  his  "  Client" 
there  exists  a  "Legal  confidence,"  to  which  the  lawyer  is  sworn 
that  he  will  maintain  it,  in  consequence  of  which  the  client  con- 
sulting with  him,  may  inform  him  of  many  matters,  that  discovered, 
would  bring  detriment,  but  all  which  the  lawyer  is  bound  to  con- 
ceal. Between  the  "Physician"  and  his  "Patient"  there  is  a 
confidence  also  by  which  the  "  Physician  "  is  bound  to  keep  secret 
and  entirely  unknown,  all  matters  so  revealed,  if  not  in  law,  at 
least  in  the  common  law  of  honour  that  exists  in  the  Profession. 
^And  this  exists  in  consequence  of  the  natural  position  of  "  Lawyer" 
and  "  Client,"  "  Physician  "  and  "  Patient ;"  and  is  recognized  ia 


220  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

the  law  of  the  land  to  a  degree  that  but  few  have  any  perception 
or  apprehension  of. 

And  so  do  I  imagine  that  it  is  or  ought  to  be  by  nature  between 
Parent  and  Child.  I  do  believe  that  such  is  the  trustful  nature 
of  the  relation  between  Parent  and  Child,  that  if  the  Child  under- 
stood clearly  that  his  Father  held  the  principle  of  "  Parental  Con- 
fidence "  as  a  fixed  rule,  and  considered  himself  thereby  bound  to 
a  deep  and  unbroken  silence  under  all  circumstances  whatsoever, 
as  to  that  which  his  children  had  so  confided  to  his  knowledge, — if 
this  were  so,  I  believe  that  the  child  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  would 
lay  open  to  the  Parent's  eye  evils  that  now  are  left  to  rankle  and 
ulcerate,  because  they  are  concealed ;  and  half  the  injuries  that 
come  upon  families  unawares,  would  be  avoided,  and  the  parent 
become  the  repository  of  the  most  inward  thoughts  of  the  child, 
his  guardian  against  secret  temptation.*  So  would  he  be  enabled 
to  check  those  first  movements  towards  evil,  whether  arising  from 
individuals  without,  or  from  evil  thoughts,  half  the  power  of  which 
depends  upon  their  hiddenness. 

But  to  do  this,  manifestly  requires  a  father  who  is  in  himself  a 
religious  and  a  truly  good  man  ;  for  such  I  leave  the  suggestion  to 
be  considered,  and  I  hope  by  many  to  be  acted  upon. 

In  reference  to  this  matter  I  shall  bring  forward  another  thought, 
which  though  it  may  properly  appear  to  belong  to  another  part  of 
this  book,  yet  finds  its  practical  place  here.  We  have  seen  under 
the  head  of  the  Reason,  that  we  are  surrounded  by  the  Unseen 
World ;  nay,  that  we  have  a  peculiar  sense,  if  I  may  use  the  word, 
by  which  we  feel  its  reality  and  are  brought  in  contact  with  it.  We 
know  further  that  it  has  good  and  evil  agents,  that  can  and  do  act 
upon  us.  Now  I  would  take  notice  that  there  are  powers  of  sug- 
gestion by  which  thoughts  that  are  in  truth  not  our  own,  are  pushed 
forward  as  it  were  upon  and  into  our  minds,  so  that  they  become 
supposititious,  appearing  to  he  our  own,  and  yet  not  being  so.  Secret 
adits  there  are  in  the  channel  of  our  life,  whereby  these  flow  in 
upon  us,  and  by  a  sort  of  immediate  unconscious  action,  may  be 
adopted  as  ours,  or  rather  unwittingly  considered  to  be  the  off- 
spring of  our  own  Hearts.  Now  these  suggestions  are  especially 
dangerous,  being  acquiesced  in  by  many,  even  at  once ;  and  to 

*  The  same  advice  has  been  before  given  in  regard  to  scruples  of  con* 
science.    I  give  it  now  again  in  reference  to  a  subject  more  important. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  221 

others  giving  tho  most  distressing  feelings  of  self-accusation,  and 
even  of  despair. 

I  would  advise  the  Person  upon  whom  the  name  of  Christ  has 
been  named  to  bring  them  forward  into  full  consciousness — to  in- 
terrogate them,  to  say  to  each  "  does  this  agree  with  my  principles, 
my  life,  my  actions  ?"  and  then  finding  they  do  not,  to  condemn 
them  as  suggestions  and  temptations  of  the  Enemy  of  Man,  and 
be  not  disturbed. 

But  for  those  who  have  not  had  the  seal  of  the  Christian  Cove- 
nant impressed  upon  their  foreheads,  for  them  no  doubt  these 
thoughts  suggested  from  without  have  great  advantage  in  the 
Habit  of  Day-dreaming  that  we  have  referred  to ;  and  the  whole 
matter,  even  apart  from  the  principle  of  Butler  that  we  have  cited, 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  readiest  school  that  the  Evil  Unseen 
World  has  of  training  and  educating  man  to  Evil. 

There  are  other  mental  vices  connected  with  Habit,  which  we 
might  discuss  and  examine.  But  the  principles  are  the  same  that 
we  have  cited  from  Bishop  Butler,  and  the  student  can,  as  an  ex- 
ercise, apply  them  for  himself.  We  therefore  leave  to  him  all 
further  application  of  them  as  an  exercise  of  moral  study,  begging 
him  again  to  put  upon  these  Principles  the  high  value  and  estima- 
tion which  they  so  truly  deserve. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


From  the  Heart  proceeds  the  greatest  Evil. — Cause  of  this,  Original  Sin. — 
Eflfects :  Ist,  UncontroUedness,  or  Self-vrill ;  2d,  Selfishness ;  3d,  Sensu- 
ality.— UncontroUedness  discussed. — The  Passions. — Selfishness. — Paley'a 
Theory  discussed  and  refuted. — Unselfishness. — Annihilation  of  self. — Sen- 
suality.— There  is  a  threefold  instinct  to  guide  Man :  of  the  Spirit ;  the 
Mind ;  the  Body :  1st,  the  Spiritual  Powers  ;  2d,  the  Desire  of  Having. — 
The  nature  and  origin  of  Property,  and  the  immorality  of  its  assailants. — 
3d,  Pleasure  and  Pain ;  uses  of  these  last. — "  Good  and  Evil"  is  not  deter- 
mined by  "  Pleasure  and  Pain." — Systematic  Sensuality. — The  Christian 
Home  alone  cures  these  three  faults. 

Our  readers  have  seen,  we  trust,  in  the  last  chapter,  the  truth 
that  the  highest  moral  development  possible  to  man's  nature  is 
through  and  by  the  Affections ;  that  therein  there  lies  the  germ  of 


222  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

all  that  man  may  become  to  man,  a  vessel  full  to  overflowing  of 
all  kindly  affections  and  humane  and  unselfish  feelings,  blessing 
his  fellow,  and  therein  himself  twice  blessed.  So  that  because  of 
the  capabilities  of.  moral  and  spiritual  transformation,  possessed 
by  this  governing  power,  he  that  is  embruted  and  debased  so  far 
that  his  fellows  shall  find  no  epithet  to  express  his  nature  save 
metaphors  from  the  lowest  animals,  shall  be  able  to  arise  from  this 
abyss,  and  deserve  and  earn  all  love  and  affection  :  the  beast  trans- 
formed into  a  man.  And  he  that  is  hated,  despised,  detested, 
scorned,  shall  be  loved  and  reverenced  almost  with  worship  and 
adoration.  Such  is  the  wonderful  power  of  this  faculty  of  the 
Spiritual  Nature. 

And  yet  true  it  is,  that  this  same  power  is  the  main  adit  and 
entrance  to  evil.  The  Heart,  in  its  state  of  nature,  affected  by 
Original  Sin,  unaided  by  gracious  influences,  is  the  source  by  which 
and  frodi  which  almost  all  evil  flows  in  upon  man.  Of  almost  all 
moral  depravation  and  moral  guilt,  these  feelings  and  affections  of 
our  nature,  which  collectively  we  call  the  Heart,  are  the  cause ; — 
uncontrolled,  that  is,  and  ungoverned,  by  their  own  law,  the  law  of 
man's  nature,  and  the  law  of  Grod,  all  which  are,  in  their  power 
and  their  results,  the  same.  So  guided  perfectly,  or  even  so 
governed  in  some  degree,  these  powers  are  the  source  of  the  highest 
moral  perfection  and  the  highest  happiness  in  the  relation  of  man 
tom  an — uncontrolled,  of  the  greatest  debasement,  the  worst  immo- 
rality. 

We  have  stated  the  one  possibility  and  capability  fearlessly; 
and  now  do  we  state  the  other  with  as  little  fear.  From  the 
"Heart  of  Man"  those  feelings,  namely,  and  emotions,  which  na- 
turally should  rest  upon  his  fellow  for  his  fellow's  good,  come  the 
greatest  evils  and  the  greatest  abasement.  And  this  is  the  assertion 
of  our  incarnate  Lord,  who  assumed  our  nature:  "  Out  of  the  Heart 
proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  thefts, 
false  witnesses,  blasphemies,  these  are  the  things  which  defile  a 
man."  And  again,  in  the  Old  Testament  it  is  said,  "  Keep  the 
Heart,  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life."  And  everywhere,  if 
we  shall  take  a  practical  view  of  human  life,  we  shall  find  it  true, 
that  there  is  a  body  of  natural  feelings  which  should  carry  us  on 
to  do  our  duty  to  our  neighbor,  which  we  call  the  Heart,  and  that 
the  perversion  of  these  and  the  corruption  of  them  produces 


THE   HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  223 

*'evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  thefts,  fornications,  blasphe- 
mies," (or  as  it  should  properly  be  rendered,)  "  slanders." 

And  each  and  every  one  of  these  crimes  and  vices  is  the  perver- 
sion of  some  feeling  or  affection  which  was  in  itself  good,  and 
which  under  guidance  and  control,  instead  of  producing  evil  might 
have  produced  good,  unmixed  and  unalloyed.  Murder,  for  in- 
stance, is  the  offspring  of  Revenge, — and  Revenge  is,  as  Bacon 
says,  "  wild  justice" — so  that  the  strong  sense  and  feeling  of 
being  injured,  and  the  natural  desire  for  justice,  this  which  in  itself 
is  perfectly  right,  provided  it  be  in  a  legal  and  just  way,  becomes, 
being  perverted,  the  root  of  murder.  And  with  regard  to  Adultery 
— this  also  is  the  same ;  the  adulterer  lavishes  upon  his  paramour 
the  same  feelings  and  affections  which,  placed  under  the  law  and 
rule  of  God  and  man,  would  have  been  innocent  conjugal  affection 
towards  his  lawful  wife ;  one  of  the  loveliest  of  all  the  natural 
feelings  thereby  being  corrupted  into  one  of  the  most  evil  and  de- 
grading of  all  vices.  And  so  the  "  desire  of  Property"  in  the 
same  way  becomes  changed  into  theft ;  and  the  desire  of  purity  in 
society,  and  of  seeing  our  brother's  life  pure,  this  becomes  slan- 
derousness.  So  that  in  the  Heart  and  Affections  of  man  there  is 
hardly  one  emotion  that  is  not  capable  of  being  the  cause  of  the 
utmost  vileness  and  degradation.  This  is  the  experience  of  all 
men  in  all  ages ;  and  howsoever  men  may  declaim  of  "  the  dignity 
of  Human  Nature  and  its  purity,"  howsoever  we  may  boast  of 
our  nature, — yet  standing  by  ourselves,  alone  and  apart  from  the 
influences  that  are  brought  to  bear  upon  us  by  the  institutions  of 
Society,  and  the  unseen  and  unfelt  hand  of  an  ever-present  God, 
none  there  are  that  can  adequately  feel  how  easily  betrayed  into 
evil  is  this  part  of  our  nature. 

We  have  already,  in  the  commencement  of  this  our  treatise, 
explained  the  nature  of  Original  Sin  as  an  inherent  insubordina- 
tion in  our  nature,  whereby  "  it  is  not  subject  unto  the  law  of 
God,"  nor  can  adequately  fulfil  it;*  which  law  of  God  is  also  in  a 
measure  the  law  of  man's  nature,  his  Conscience  and  his  Reason, 
and  also  his  Affections. 

And  in  our  examination  of  each  faculty  of  the  spiritual  or 
governing  powers,  we  have  shown  how  far  that  particular  power 

*  "  For  the  carnal  mind  ia  enmity  ag^st  God,  for  it  is  not  subject  unto 
the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  he." — Rom.  viii.  7. 


224  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE.. 

was  affected,  and  in  what  way.  This,  then,  in  reference  to  the 
Heart,  must  now  be  our  task  to  show  how  and  whereby  that  which 
is  the  source  and  means  of  the  highest  loveliness  of  Humanity 
may  become  polluted,  so  as  to  be  the  well-spring  and  poisonous 
,  fountain  of  its  basest  degradation. 

We  have  given  some  examples  already,  from  which  as  well  as 
from  the  Scriptures,  students  in  the  science  of  morals  may  under- 
stand the  truth  of  our  assertion  as  to  the  fact.  The  question  now 
remains,  "  How  and  wherein  do  the  effects  of  '  Original  Sin'  show 
themselves  upon  the  Heart  or  the  Affections  ?" 

New,  let  us  look  upon  man  as  a  being  formed  for  Society, — ^hav- 
ing therefore  relations  with  persons  exactly  the  same  in  constitu- 
tion with  himself,  and  therefore  feelings  which  exist  in  consequence 
of  these  relations,  and  terminate  appropriately  in  these  persons. 
The  perfection  of  the  man,  so  far,  is  in  these  feelings  being  volun- 
tarily directed  towards  these  persons,  according  to  a  proportion  and 
harmony/,  which,  according  to  the  principles  laid  down  in  Book  III., 
shall  come  from  God,  and  be  apprehended  by  the  man.  Hence 
the  Law  and  Knowledge  of  God,  applied  by  the  nian's  Spiritual 
Reason ;  this  is  the  rule  of  the  Affections,  and  the  Law  after  which 
they  are  to  be  harmonized.  To  have,  therefore,  power  over  the 
affections  and  emotions  of  the  Heart,  so  as  to  direct  them  propor- 
tionably  to  the  law  of  God  unto  the  persons  to  whom  they  are 
naturally  to  be  directed,  this  would  be  to  have  the  faculty  in  per- 
fection. 

So  would  we  have  power  to  direct  them  aright,  as  to  persons, 
and  as  to  quantity  of  emotion.  This  implies  "control,"  so  that 
the  emotion  be  not  too  great  or  too  small — and  that  it  be  under 
the  Law. 

This  is  the  first  perfection ; — the  deficiency  of  it  we  shall  call 
"  Uncontrolledness." 

Again :  it  is  implied  that  they  be  directed  to  "  Persons  in  So- 
ciety." And  as  we  have  shown  that  the  "Affections"  may  be  so 
corrupted  as  to  have  substituted  for  them  "Desires"  which  are 
towards  "  things"  and  not  "  persons  ;"  hence  comes,  as  we  have 
shown,  "  Selfishness."  This  we  count  the  second  alloy  or  corrup- 
tion of  the  "Heart." 

Again :  we  see  the  "  Animals,"  who  are  not  "  Persons ;"  but 
"animals"  have  desires  that  are  solely  "animal"  toward  their 
fellows.     And  so  we  do  see  that  man,  since  he  has  a  body,  and  an 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  225 

"Animal  Mind/'  as  well  as  a  Spiritual  Being,  can  become,  as  it 
were,  an  "Animal."  His  "Affections,"  as  they  can  be  alloyed, 
or  rather  supplanted  by  "Desires,"  and  so  become  selfish,  so  can 
they  be  alloyed  or  supplanted  by  "wtere  animal  appetites,"  or 
lusts.  The  man  may  make  of  himself  so  far  a  mere  animal.  This 
substitution  of  the  appetites  for  the  "Affections,"  we  call  "  Sen- 
suality." 

These,  then,  we  count  to  be  by  nature  the  deficiencies  of  the 
Heart  of  man  considered  in  itself,  apart  from  all  subduing  influ- 
ences, "  Uncontrolledness,"  or  "  disobedience  to  law,"  Selfishness, 
and  Sensuality. 

And  considered  apart  from  all  exterior  influences  that  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  man, — that  is,  if  man  were  as  Tie  hardly  can 
he,  shut  out  from  all  Gracious  influences  of  his  natural  position  in  a 
world  of  Probation,  and  also  from  the  Evangelical  influences  of 
the  Gospel ;  we  believe  that  the  situation  of  the  man  would  be  as 
one  having  limbs,  and  muscles,  and  bones,  and  nerves  to  walk 
with,  the  very  harmony  and  proportion  of  which  suggested  his 
walking, — and  yet  these  all  under  the  influence  of  palsy.  Or,  as  it 
may  better  express  the  effect  of  "  Original  Sin"  upon  this  part  of 
his  nature,  we  believe  that  he  would  rather  be  as  the  man  to  whom 
all  his  organization  naturally,  as  well  as  his  position  in  Society, 
suggests  rationality  and  decorousness  of  conduct ;  and  yet  in- 
sanity having  taken  possession  of  his  frame,  overcomes,  by  the 
nervous  influence,  the  "mental  powers."  And  thus  in  him  the  body 
may  be  said  to  be  warring  with  the  mental  power  in  equal  strife.; 
so  equal,  that  to  each  he  may  apply  the  term  "I,"  and  say,  "/ 
wish  to  rule  myself — that  is,  the  "  I"  which  is.sane,  wishes  to  over- 
come, and  control  the  "I"  which  is  insane.  So  it  seems  would  be 
the  situation  of  man's  Heart  by  nature ;  that  is,  apart  from  all 
gracious  exterior  influences.  There  would  be  in  it  the  feeling  and 
strong  desire  of  control  according  to  the  harmony  of  God's  law ;  but 
this  only  a  feeling  and  persuasion,  lying  unable,  insufficient,  pal- 
sied, dead.  And  close  by  it  would  be  the  three  evils  that  we 
have  mentioned,  uncontrolled  and  carrying  the  man  hither  and 
thither  in  defiance  of  all  law  of  God  and  man  ;  now  swelling  and 
blazing  up  into  exuberant  and  overpowering  Passions,  and  now 
sinking  into  cold  and  dead  callousness  and  apathy.  And  the 
Affections,  all  of  them,  would  also  be  perverted  from  their  due 
ends,  and  Self-will,  and  "Selfishness,"  and  "Sensuality"  take 

29 


226  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

their  place,  and  reign,  and  rule,  having  the  power,  and  overbearing 
the  Feeling  of  right  and  of  control.  And  thus  would  the  most 
intense  misery  be  produced  between  the  strife  of  the  Spiritual 
Sense  and  the  Desire  of  the  Heart,  thus  left  to  itself  ungov- 
erned. 

But  this  can  never  completely  take  place,  because,  as  we  have 
urged  again  and  again,  "Society"  and  the  "Course  of  God's 
providence"  give  some  aid,  nay,  in  many  cases  very  great  aid, 
against  such  a  state  of  matters.  And  secondly,  to  counteract  this, 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  properly  called  "  Grace,"  acts 
so  as  much  to  prevent  it,  even  in  many  that  know  it  not.  But 
apart  from  the  influences  of  God's  Moral  Government,  and  apart 
from  God's  Grace,  such  would  be  the  position  of  every  man — a 
position  of  the  most  wretched  misery  and  self-torment. 

How  far  God  may  permit  the  Natural  Heart  in  any  individual 
to  overpower  the  influences  of  Society  and  of  the  Spirit,  we  do 
not  know,  and  the  question  is  one  of  the  most  awful  mystery  ;  but 
it  seems,  from  the  history  of  our  race,  as  if  there  had  been  plain 
instances  in  which  men  had  been  left  to  themselves,  and  that  in 
such  men  Selfishness,  and  Sensuality,  and  ungoverned  Passions, 
that  might  have  been  noble-hearted  Afi'ections,  had  reigned,  and 
the  acutest  misery  and  bitterness,  self-contempt  and  self-accusa- 
tion, had  been  the  result.  And  such  would  seem  to  be  the  destiny 
of  each  man  by  his  nature,  apart  from  all  external  divine  influ- 
ence, operating  upon  his  Heart. 

We  proceed  now  to  notice  these  three  natural  faults  of  the 
Heart. 

The  first  we  have  mentioned  is  "  UncontroUedness,"  the  natural 
tendency  that  the5'e  is,  because  of  Original  Sin,  in  each  and  every 
afiection  severally,  and  in  them  all  as  a  body,  to  fall  from  out  their 
Natural  Harmony,  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Law' through  the 
Reason.  This  might  be  expressed  by  the  word  "Rebelliousness ;" 
for  every  one  that  has  had  experience  of  Human  Nature,  has  seen 
that  it  is  not  enough  that  a  course  should  be  rational,  and  even  for 
the  actual  and  immediate  interest  of  the  individual,  and  that  he  be 
clearly  convinced  that  it  is  so,  in  order  that  he  should  pursue  it. 
Nay,  he  who  shall  look  at  children  in  the  Family,  and  men  in 
Society,  shall  see,  that  because  of  this  very  thing,  they  shall  some- 
times, out  of  mere  "  Self-will,"  as  it  is  called,  reject  proposed 
actions  that  are  such.     It  might  be  called  "Perverseness,"  or 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  227 

"  FroTvardness,"  or  "  Self-will," — all  these  express  more  or  less  the 
same  thing ;  but  more  fully  do  I  think  that  this  word  "  Uncon- 
trolledness,"  expresses  that  quality  in  the  "  Heart,"  which  is  the 
cause  of  "rebelliousness,"  and  " self-will,"  and  "frowardness," 
and  "  perverseness." 

Now  I  suspect  there  are  very  few,  indeed,  that  comprehend  to  *• 
what  an  extent  this  quality  of  "  UncontroUedness  "  exists  by  na- 
ture in  the  Heart  of  man,  and  what  an  immensity  of  Discipline  in 
God's  providence  is  to  him  administered,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, by  the  direct  action  of  Society  upon  him,  the  immediate 
effect  of  which  is  to  conquer  and  subdue  it.  This  alone  shows  how 
great  naturally  it  is.  In  fact,  to  look  at  it  aright,  the  Scrip- 
ture is  absolutely/  and  scientifically  correct,  that  states  froward- 
ness to  be  bound  up  in  the  heart  of  a  child, — for  this  quality  is 
the  first  manifested  by  children,  and  to  give  "  Self-control  "  is  the 
direct  effect  of  our  providential  training  in  the  Family  for  so  long 
a  time  as  children ;  and  in  the  State  as  men.  But  the  amount  of 
this  in  us  by  nature,  may  perhaps  be  best  seen  by  considering  the 
following  extract  from  Bp.  Butler's  Analogy. 

"  But  if  we  consider  a  person  brought  into  the  world  with  both 
these  (bodily  strength  and  understanding)  in  maturity,  as  far  as 
this  is  conceivable,  he  would  plainly  at  first  be  as  unqualified  for 
the  human  life  of  mature  age  as  an  idiot. 

"  He  would  in  a  manner  be  distracted  with  astonishment  and 
apprehension,  and  curiosity,  and  suspense,  nor  can  any  one  guess 
how  long  it  would  be  before  he  would  be  familiarized  to  himself, 
and  the  objects  about  him,  enough  even  to  set  himself  to  any- 
thing. 

"  It  may  be  questioned,  too,  whether  the  natural  information  of 
his  sight  and  hearing  would  be  of  any  use  at  all  to  him  in  acting 
before  experience. 

"  And  it  seems  that  men  would  he  strangely  headstrong,  and  self- 
willed,  and  disposed  to  exert  themselves  with  an  impetuosity  which 
would  render  society  insupportable,  and  the  living  in  it  impracti- 
cable, were  it  not  for  some  acquired  moderation  and  self-govern- 
ment, some  aptitude  and  readiness  in  restraining  themselves  and 
concealing  their  sense  of  things." 

Here,  then,  is  the  idea  we  have  been  urging  plainly  set  forth, — 
it  is  here  shown,  that  by  nature,  the  long  training  from  childhood 
unto  manhood, — ^this  whether  the  parent  is  conscious  of  it  or  not, 


228  •  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

is,  of  effect,  to  repress  the  natural  "  Self-will,"  to  give  "  Control- 
ledness  "  to  that  which  is  "  Uncontrolled."  And  he  that  has  seen 
*'  Savages,"  or  even  the  "  Semi-civilized,"  he  shall  see  that  the 
main  difference  that  exists  between  them  and  the  civilized,  is  the 
want  of  this  "  Self-control."  The  Savage's  eye  is  caught  by  any 
trifle.  He  cannot  check  that  desire,  govern  it,  or  in  any  way  con- 
trol it.  He  will,  for  the  whim  of  the  moment,  subject  himself  to 
any  amount  of  future  misery.  The  civilized  man,  on  the  contrary, 
by  all  the  training  he  has  got  in  Civilized  Society,  is  taught  to 
check,  rule,  govern  himself,  and  this  makes  all  the  difference  be- 
tween them.  A  great  difference,  indeed, — the  difference  of  Law, 
and  of  Knowledge,  of  which,  as  we  have  said.  Society  is  the  channel 
to  all  who  are  in  it,  in  a  degree  more  or  less  to  all,  but  highest  to 
those  who  are  in  a  Christianized  Society. 

Again,  if  any  one  look  at  a  child  from  its  birth,  he  will  see  that 
this  very  thing  of  "  UncontroUedness  "  is  one  born  with  it, — a 
fault  of  deficiency,  which  is  supplied  more  or  less  in  all  who  live 
under  the  guidance  of  Parents  in  the  Family ;  but  most  of  all  in 
those  who,  being  brought  into  Covenant  with  God,  have  all  the 
influences  attached  to  that  state,  the  influences  of  the  Spirit 
promised  them,  the  teachings  of  God's  Providence,  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  Holy  Angels,  the  Communion  of  Saints,  and  the 
influence  of  an  holy  home,  of  a  Father  and  Mother  pledged  unto 
God,  and  training  up  their  children  in  Faith  and  Love. 

This  is  the  complete  and  entire  remedy ,  as  we  have  said,  this  and 
this  alone.  The  influences  of  the  Crospel  seen  and  unseen  brought 
to  hear  upon  the  Heart  from  childhood.  And  he  that  is  without 
this  may  indeed,  in  latter  years,  become  a  Christian,  but  he  shall 
be  a  very  imperfect  one,  with  many  faults,  and  all  of  them  arising 
from  this  one  great  natural  fault  of  "  UncontroUedness,"  left  in 
his  youth  unremedied.  For  the  great  cure  of  this  fault  is  the 
Grace  of  God,  awaking  in  the  Child  the  Spiritual  Mind  in  its 
youth  ;  the  living  sense,  we  say,  not  the  verbal  knowledge  of  Truth, 
Purity,  Justice,  Holiness,  Gentleness,  Goodness ;  all  these  that  we 
have  pointed  out  as  truths  of  the  Spiritual  Reason.  These  so  held 
are  the  proper  and  only  perfect  checks  of  this  "  UncontroUedness" 
natural  to  man.  And  we  say  plainly  that  this  teaching  is  the  only 
security  against  this  fault,  the  only  complete  and  entire  security. 
And  he  who  denies  it  to  his  child,  he  does  with  reference  to  his 
moral  being  as  much  incapacitate  him  as  the  parents  of  that  Ger- 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  229 

man  child  Caspar  Hauser  did  as  regards  his  body.  For  he  was 
found  in  the  state  which  Butler  describes,  grown  to  maturity  and 
yet  a  child,  unknowing  any  language  and  untrained  in  any  art. 

We  have  seen  ourselves  youth  who  certainly  had  seen]  at  home 
no  viciousness,  who  had  lived  at  home  without  vice,  and  then  the 
first  time  that  the  external  check  of  a  mechanically  virtuous  Home 
was  cast  aside,  they  rushed  oflf  into  all  sin ;  and  men  wondered, 
without  any  cause, — for  if  the  Spiritual  Reason,  that  which  is  the 
image  of  God,  is  unawakened  and  inactive,  and  the  Desires  un- 
controlled, the  man  so  far  is  an  animal,  and  will  live  and  act  as 
an  animal.     There  is  no  wonder  at  all  in  such  cases. 

So  far  with  regard  to  general  "  UncontroUedness,"  as  it  exists 
as  a  quality  of  the  Heart  itself;  as  it  is  more  generally  manifested, 
it  comes  in  connexion  with  what  are  called  "  Passions." 

"  This  term  is  applied  to  Desires  and  Affections  when  uncon- 
trolled hy  Reason,  as  if  men  in  such  cases  were  merely  passive 
and  acted  upon.  Thus  we  speak  of  a  man  being  in  a  Passion, 
meaning  an  uncontrolled  fit  of  anger,  and  having  a  passion  for  an 
object,  meaning  an  uncontrolled  desire. 

"  Still  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  man  under  the  influence  of 
Buch  Passions  is  not  really  passive — when  he  acts  under  such  in- 
fluence he  adopts  the  suggestion  of  Desire  or  Affection;  and 
rejects  the  control  of  Reason.  *  *  *  Passion  does  not  pre- 
vent a  man  knowing  that  there  is  a  rule  and  that  he  is  acting  in 
violation  of  it.  To  say  that  Passion  is  irresistible  is  to  annihilate 
Reason  and  to  exclude  the  most  essential  condition  of  Human 
Action."* 

Upon  this  matter  of  the  Passions,  and  their  escape  from  control, 
we  shall  at  present  remark  no  more  than  that  the  Spiritual  Rea- 
son is  the  Great  Governor  of  them,  and  that  Habit,  Sympathy, 
Time,  these  are  the  conditions  of  its  operation.  For  the  very 
nature  of  a  Passion  is  that  it  is  momentary,  and  therefore  it  can  be 
overcome  in  its  vehement  assaults  by  preparing  against  it  long 
before,  through  the  awakening  of  the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  chain 
of  Habit,  and  the  shield  of  a  just  and  equitable  Sympathy  with 
those  that  passion  otherwise  would  have  injured ;  or  else,  if  this 
have  not  beforehand  been  prepared  and  habitually  established,  at 
the  time  it  can  be  arrested  by  delay,  occupation,  surprise,  or  any 

*  Whewell's  Elements  of  Morality,  voL  1,  p.  58. 


230  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

one  of  those  things  that  takes  its  violence  from  the  immediate 
moment,  and  spreads  it  out  over  a  space  of  time.  For  what  gives 
a  Passion  force,  is  that  it  is  concentrated  in  a  moment, — resisted 
for  that  space,  and  its  violence  by  any  means  expanded  over  time, 
it  shall  be  conquered. 

Hence  the  mechanical  means  of  conquering  anger  by  saying  the 
Creed,  counting  one  thousand,  putting  in  a  mouthful  of  water  and 
keeping  it  there  for  some  time,  turning  aside  for  ten  minutes,  all 
of  these  very  good  because  they  take  advantage  of  that  principle 
in  the  very  nature  of  passion,  its  momentariness. 

But  a  thousand-fold  better  is  it  to  prepare  beforehand,  to  think 
and  guard  ourselves  against  it,  and  thus  to  conquer  it  before  it 
arises. 

Another  remark  we  would  here  make  in  reference  to  Passions. 
"An  Affection,  it  seems,  uncontrolled  by  Reason  is  a  Passion ;" — 
again  in  the  case  of  the  Heart,  it  would  seem  that  this  governing 
faculty  belongs  in  some  measure  to  the  body  as  well  as  to  the  soul ; 
and  that  we  might  say,  that  when  the  Body  rules  then  the  Affec- 
tion becomes  a  Passion,  when  the  Spiritual  power  then  it  is  an  Af- 
fection. This  we  say  not  in  a  precise  scientific  way,  but  in  a  popu- 
lar one,  in  order  to  explain  our  meaning  more  perspicuously. 

Now  this  being  so,  it  would  seem  that  if  the  Divine  Reason  is 
imawakened,  and  systematic  and  habitual  controUedness  is  not 
established,  that  the  Lusts,  Desires,  Appetites,  bodily  Passions  and 
emotions  have  the  power  of  rising  up  and  taking  the  sway,  but 
that  to  awaken  the  Spiritual  powers  will  be  to  keep  off  and  keep 
down  the  others.  Love  will  render  the  individual  proof  against 
Lust,  true  Benevolence  against  Prodigality,  the  sense  and  habitual 
practice  of  Justice  against  brute  Anger,  true  Joyfulness  against 
riotous  and  revelling  Emotion,  steady  Hopefulness  against  that 
variation  of  the  same  natural  feeling  that  leads  men  to  gambling  ; 
and  so  each  and  every  emotion  of  the  Heart  under  the  Spiritual 
Reason,  habitually  awakened,  keeps  down  a  passion  or  a  lust  that 
has  hurried  multitudes  to  destruction.  But  nought  else  will  effect 
this  than  that  youthful  training  under  the  influence  of  God's  Grace 
which  I  have  above  mentioned. 

But  from  the  nature  of  Passion,  from  the  nature  of  the  Affec- 
tions, as  spreading  to  Body  and  Soul,  from  the  nature  of  the  Rea- 
son also,  to  seek  for  momentary  remedies  instead  of  permanent 
oneSj  is  merely  to  delude  ourselves. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  231 

It  is  the  Habit  only,  formed  by  the  Reason  and  the  Will  guid- 
ing, governing,  controlling  gystematically  the  Affections,  and  these 
Affections  themselves  ruling  according  to  their  nature,  this  is  the 
only  thing  that  can  raise  the  rampart  broad  and  high  to  resist  the 
momentary  rush  and  thunder-gust  of  the  passions. 

But  that  a  man  shall  live  through  his  existence,  making  it  his 
only  object  to  eat,  and  drink,  and  enjoy  himself;  and  his  only  rule 
of  life  to  be  honest  enough,  and  just  enough,  and  fair  enough,  to 
go  through  life,  and  all  this  barely  external  honesty,  and  justice, 
and  fairness :  and  then  internally  to  make  Self  his  only  rule,  and 
to  laugh  at  the  restraints  of  the  Conscience,  and  overleap  them,  to 
set  aside  the  Spiritual  Reason,  and  in  his  heart  despise  its  laws, 
and  turn  Affection  into  Animal  desire  and  Lust, — for  a  man  to  do 
all  this,  is  to  make  himself  ready  to  he  overthrown  and  destroyed 
hy  the  assaults  of  the  passions. 

And  for  ourselves,;^when  we  look  out  upon  life  and  see  how  many 
are  in  the  situation  we  have  just  described,  as  to  their  Inward 
Heart, — satisfying  themselves,  if  they  satisfy  Society,  with  an  out- 
ward show,  and  inwardly  destitute  of  all  principle,  except  a  syste- 
matic Selfishness, — the  wonder  is  not  to  us  that  so  many  awful  falls 
into  ruin  have  taken  place  of  late  years,  but  that  so  many  have 
stood.  So  far  with  regard  to  the  Passions,  as  far  as  their  govern- 
ance is  concerned;  and  with  these  observations,  we  close  our 
remarks  upon  "Uncontrolledness." 

With  regard  to  the  next  fault  of  the  Heart, — Selfishness,  we  have 
abeady  spoken  of  it  in  Chapter  Second  of  this  book,. — we  have 
shown  that  it  is  the  "  turning  after  things  of  those  Affections  that 
ought  to  rest  upon  persons  exclusively,"  and  have  sufficiently  en- 
larged upon  it. 

Another  matter  in  reference  to  it  we  would  remark,  that  the 
most  destructive  of  all  modern  "  theories  of  Morals,"  is  the  doc- 
trine of  Paley,  that  "  Selfishness,  moderated  and  guided  by  Rea- 
son, is  the  leading  principle  of  morality."  This  in  fact  is  only  the 
theory  of  Hobbes,  "  that  the  state  of  man  naturally  is  a  state  of 
war ;  that  as  birds  of  prey  are  supplied  with  talons  and  beaks,  and 
beasts  of  prey  with  teeth  and  claws,  and  both  with  rapacity  to 
set  at  work  and  cunning  to  employ  these  natural  arms, — 6o  is  it 
with  man,  that  he  is  an  animal  naturally  at  war  with  his  fellows, 
and  with  all  other  animals,  rapacious  by  nature,  and  cunning, 
with  reasoning  powers  given  him  to  supply  and  frame  the  arms 


282  CHRISTIAN  SCIEiSCE. 

that  he  has  not  by  nature."  This  is  the  theory  of  Hobhes,  fully 
and  plainly  laid  out ;  the  theory  of  Paley,  it  -will  be  seen,  is  much 
the  same.  It  says  that  all  that  man  seeks,  he  seeks  for  himself y 
and  only  for  self,  that  this  is  the  centre  of  all  actions  and  must  be 
80.  Hence  that  all  he  can  do  is  to  moderate  and  guide  his  natural 
selfishness. 

Hence  there  can  be  no  Conscience,  no  natural  feeling  or  knoTT- 
ledge  of  Justice,  Truth,  or  Honesty, — for  these  are  put  aside,  if 
the  gratification  of  self,  by  nature,  is  and  must  be  the  main 
object  of  the  Man.  Hence  there  is  no  natural  Heart  or  Affec- 
tions for  these,  say  "  not  ,for  Self,  but  for  Persons  who  are  not 
your  Self  should  you  act;  and  to  bring  in  Self  therein,  is  to  per- 
vert and  destroy."  This  notion  destroys  the  Conscience,  the 
Reason,  the  Heart,  it  reduces  man  to  the  level  of  a  beast  without 
governing  powers,  led  by  appetites  alone.  Nay,  it  brutalizes  him 
wholly,  it  says  "there  is  no  highness,  no  loftiness,  no  nobleness  of 
moral  being,  for  all  is  Appetite,  all  is  Self;"  only  regulated  a  little 
by  the  consequences  to  others,  and  to  yourself, — so  that  your 
"  Self"  shall  last  out  to  the  end  of  your  natural  life,  and  not  end 
upon  the  scaffold  or  in  the  prison. 

This  is  the  notion  of  Paley,  a  notion  which,  we  will  say,  every 
man  that  thinks  a  moment,  will  see  to  be  false ;  for  the  man  who 
acts  in  obedience  to  Conscience,  acts  so  not  for  any  motive  but 
that  immediate  one ;  just  as  in  case  of  "  Simple  Pleasure,"  or  Pain, 
with  respect  to  his  body ;  he  that  brings  his  hand  in  contact  with 
fire  takes  it  away,  not  from  any  reasoning  upon  thoughts  of  Self, 
but  without  any  thought  of  it,  from  the  Pain.  And  so  with  regard 
to  simple  emotions  of  Pleasure.  Thus  also  it  is  with  regard  to 
him  who  obeys  Conscience ;  "Good"  is  sought  as  "Good,"  "Evil" 
avoided  as  "Evil."  "  Conscience  "  is  the  natural  sense  of  these  in 
reference  to  Eternity,  as  the  physical  sensibility  is  of  "  Pleasure  " 
and  "Pain :"  and  as  the  consequence  of  action,  attended  by  the  one, 
is  to  the  body  "preservation"  or  "destruction,"  it  being  certain 
that  such  to  the  physical  frame  is  the  use  of  "Pleasure"  and 
"  Pain ;"  so  to  the  Moral  Being  is  the  consequence  of  "  Good  "  and 
"  Evil."  Each  faculty  is  an  instinctive  warning,  a  natural  sense, 
existing  in  all  men  without  reference  to  knowledge  or  experience. 
And  each  one  who  acts  upon  Conscience,  knows  as  much  that  he 
is  acting  upon  it  without  reference  to  Self,  as  he  that  acts  upon 


THE  HEAKT  OR  AFFECTIONS.  238 

*' Pleasure"  and  "Pain,"  physically  knows  His  action  to  be  im- 
mediate upon  the  instinct 

Again,  in  reference  to  the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  man  who  acts 
upon  moral  principle  of  any  kind,  upon  motives  of  Justice, 
Honesty,  Veracity,  Benevolence,  he  knows  that  it  is  upon  the 
principle  he  acts,  without  reference  to  the  consequence ;  and  the 
very  perfection  of  the  principle  is,  that  upon  it  he  would  so  act  in 
despite  of  all  consequences  to  self — strong,  and  upheld  by  the 
principle, 

"  Unhurt  amid  the  war  of  Elements, 
The  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crash  of  worlds." 

So  in  respect  of  the  Affections  ;  the  man  who  loves  his  family 
knows  that  he  loves  them  for  no  selfish  motives,  but  for  themselves 
— ^his  wife  is  loved  for  herself — his  children  for  themselves — his 
friends  for  themselves.  As  we  have  before  said,  the  introduction 
of  Self  here  is  the  very  destruction  of  the  Affection. 

Not  according  to  this  moral  doctrine  of  Paley  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  quite  otherwise.  "  Except  a  man  deny 
himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me,  he  cannot  become 
my  disciple."  In  fact,  herein  does  the  spiritual  doctrine  unite 
with  and  crown  the  moral  one ;  herein  is  the  scion  of  heaven  en- 
grafted upon  the  progeny  of  earth ;  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  Self- 
denial,  this  is  the  crown  of  the  moral  doctrine  of  the  Affections ; 
and  in  the  Home,  in  the  Nation,  in  the  Church,  this  is  in  a  mea- 
sure the  completion  of  all  practical  philosophy,  for  those  whom 
man  is  bound  to  love,  to  renounce  all  self  and  selfishness.  If  the 
Husband,  the  Wife,  the  Father,  the  Mother,  the  Daughter,  the 
Son,  the  Brother,  the  Sister, — if  these  love,  and  for  this  their  love, 
renounce  and  deny  and  give  up  Self,  and  cause  their  desires  to 
be  towards  the  happiness  of  one  another ; — ^then  is  the  Home  a 
pure  fount  and  crystal  spring  of  happiness  and  sweet  calm  joy. 
If  those  Affections  that  should  be  disinterested  are  set  upon  the 
advantages  that  affection  brings,  then  Selfishness  ultimately  brings 
its  own  punishment,  and  that  which  ought  to  be  happy  shall  be 
miserable. 

So  it  is  with  the  Nation ; — to  labour  for  the  Nation's  good,  this 
brings  happiness,  being  disinterested ;  but  Selfishness  spoils  and 
destroys  Patriotism :  and  so  it  is  with  the  Church. 

30 


234  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

To  deny  oneself, — to  love  whom  we  ought  to  love  with  an  affec- 
tion pure  from  all  motives  of  self, — this  is  the  height  and  com- 
pletion of  all  wisdom  of  life,  in  the  Home,  the  Nation,  and  the 
Church. 

And  as  it  is  the  most  difficult  of  all  mofal  tasks,  so  it  is  the  best 
rewarded.  For  if  the  most  selfish  soul  only  knew  the  calm  and 
certain  joy  of  him  who  has  trained  himself  to  Unselfishness, — if  he 
only  knew  how  soon  Selfishness  is  found  out  and  hated  when  even 
buried  under  the  deepest  disguise ; — and  how  soon  Unselfishness  is 
found  out  and  loved  and  respected,  and  given  of  men  'power  and 
influence  and  authority,  these  things  which  the  selfish  man  most 
desires  to  get,  and  the  being  baffled  in  the  attainment  of  which,  is 
his  most  frequent  torment  and  truest  punishment : — if  he  only 
could  find  out  and  experience  this,  even  his  selfishness  would  drive 
him  to  cast  away  selfishness. 

But  again,  I  would  impress  upon  my  readers  that  "  Selfishness" 
is  the  substitution  of  Desires  for  Affections  ;  and  that  merely  to 
fling  away  the  Desire  or  the  object  of  the  Desire,  this  is  of  no 
avail  except  the  Affection  take  its  place :  and  herein  lies  the  differ- 
ence between  Abstinence  and  Fasting,  Benevolence  and  mere 
Prodigality,  money-careless  Goodnature  and  Compassion.  To  re- 
nounce things  is  not  hard ;  to  have  Affections  rightly  directed, 
in  consequence  of  which  "  Desires"  are  kept  away,  and  "  things  " 
renounced,  this  is  the  completeness  of  "  Unselfishness." 

One  thing  more  in  reference  to  this  and  I  have  done  with  the 
subject;  ^'Selfishness"  is  not  ''Self"  verbally  or  actually.  A 
man's  "  Self"  is  his  Being,  his  Identity,  that  which  makes  him 
what  he  is.  Now  there  is  a  religious  philosophy  that  now  and  then 
springs  up,  an  error  that  the  noblest  often  fall  into,  that  confound 
these  two,  that  says  "let  us  annihilate  self;"  and  then  prescribes 
a  denial  of  all  emotions  whatsoever,  an  attempt  to  be  without 
emotion  and  almost  without  being,  and  calls  this  Perfection. 

This  is  the  philosophy  of  the  Mystics  or  Quietists,  and  plainly 
takes  Self  as  if  it  meant  "  Selfishness."  It  is  a  verbal  error,  one 
nevertheless  that  many  have  fallen  into.  We  mention  it  here 
merely  for  the  sake  of  caution.  Selfishness  you  can  annihilate 
completely  by  the  Grace  of  God,  given  in  his  Covenant — "  Self," 
that  is  your  individual  emotions  and  feelings,  you  cannot  annihi- 
late— if  you  could  your  situation  then  would  be  that  of  an  idiot — 
the  Perfect  Man  of  the  Mystics  only  and  merely  exists  as  an  idiot. 


THE  HEART   OR  AFFECTIONS.  235 

But  man  as  God  made  him,  and  as  God  intended  him  to  be,  was  to 
enjoy  all  the  emotions  of  an  Heart  overflowing  with  love  to  God  and 
man,  under  the  guidance  of  God's  law  and  the  ruling  power  of  his 
own  inward  being,  and  not  to  dream  of  annihilating  them,  for 
these  all  are  good  in  themselves  and  not  evil.  That  they  should  be 
guided,  governed,  controlled,  repressed,  moderated  under  God's 
Law,  and  by  God's  Grace,  with  and  by  means  of  the  internal 
governing  nature  of  man,  this  as  a  right  and  true  desire ; — but  the 
"  annihilation"  of  them  is  a  Quietist  dream  that  has  led  many 
astray. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  natural  fault  of  the  Affections,  that 
is.  Sensuality.  Upon  this  we  have  already  remarked,  that  it  con- 
sists in  the  substituting  habitually  the  mere  "  Animal  Desires" 
for  the  Affections. 

This,  in  the  Scriptures,  is  called  "Lust,"  or  the  "Carnal 
Mind,"  these  words  meaning  one  and  the  same  thing,  the  man's 
acting  merely  as  an  Animal,  and  putting  aside  altogether  his 
moral' and  spiritual  being.     This  we  have  termed  "  Sensuality." 

Now,  it  is  worth  while  to  examine  the  ground  and  foundation  of 
this.  We  have  seen  that  man  is  made  up  of  three  elements — the 
Body,  the  Animal  Mind,  the  Spirit.  We  have  looked  at  the  Spirit, 
and  seen  whereunto  its  desires  tend,  in  our  examination  of  its  va- 
rious powers.  Again  :  we  have  seen  of  the  Animal  Mind  that  its 
desire  is  towards  visible  things — things  of  the  Senses,  which,  by  vir- 
tue of  his  organization,  man  desires  to  have.  Again :  we  look  at  the 
Body,  we  find  that  it  has  Sensibility,  the  power  of  being  affected 
by  external  things,  that  is,  of  feeling  from  them  the  sense  of  Plea- 
sure and  of  Pain ;  that  this  is  strictly  and  scientifically  the  sense 
that  preserves  the  body  from  disorganization.  Hence  has  man,  as 
such,  a  threefold  natural  instinctive  guide,  born  with  him  and 
awakened  in  him  to  act,  by  the  action  upon  him  of  Society  and 
Nature — first,  the  four  spiritual  senses,  that  we  have  so  often 
enumerated,  which  bind  him  to  God  and  to  things  eternal,  immor- 
tal, invisible. 

Secondly :  he  has  with  reference  to  things  seen,  the  sense  "  of 
having y''  the  natural  feeling  of  the  Possession  of  Property,  of 
Life,  and  of  Rights — this,  we  take  it,  belongs  to  the  Mind,  as  one 
and  the  first  of  its  faculties. 

And  he  that  considers  the  origin  of  Property,  he  shall  see  that 
there  is  a  natural  instinct  and  ineradicable  feeling  in  Man,  by  his 


236  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE.  ' 

being,  the  Desire  of  Having,  ■vvMcli  urges  him  to  labor  of  taind 
and  body,  and  thereby  to  obtain  as  his  own  that  which  he  desires. 
It  is  an  indestructible  and  fundamental  faculty  and  feeling  of  his 
nature — ^to  be  ruled,  of  course,  by  law  and  equity,  but  not  origin- 
ating in  them,  but  in  the  man's  nature,  concurring  with  the  exter- 
nal means  of  gratifying  it. 

The  Desire  to  Have — Labor — Property — ^these  are  as  the  eye 
— its  power  of  sight — things  visible.  They  belong  to  the  Indivi- 
dual Man,  as  the  power  of  making  honey, — the  desire  to  make  it, — 
and  the  honey,  to  the  Bee.  Inherent  in  Man,  they  are  connatural, 
always  existing ;  belonging  to  the  very  nature  of  the  being,  and 
to  that  of  the  world  wherein  that  being  is.  Thei/  can  he  regulated, 
never  destroy ed.*^  This  is  the  second  natural  tie,  and  it  connects 
man  in  a  very  strong  way  with  the  world  of  things  palpable  to  the 
senses  and  perceptible  by  them. 

Thirdly:  the  "Body"  is  manifestly  a  material  organization — a 
living  organization,  too,  in  the  midst  of  forces,  some  of  which  are 
destructive,  some  tend  to  its  support.  It  needs,  evidently,  a  pro- 
tective sense,  by  which  it  shall  be  instinctively  guarded  against 
those  that  are  destructive,  and  turned  to  those  that  are  for  its 

*  I  have  stated  thus  briefly  the  foundation  of  Property  to  be, — First,  in  an 
inherent  faculty  of  our  being,  that  cannot  be  eradicated  from  it.  y  Secondly,  in 
an  action  of  the  man,  labor,  that  is  always  necessary  to  man's  being,  always 
has  its  Rights,  and  always  must  exist.  Thirdly,  in  the  provision  in  the  ex- 
ternal world  of  rewards  for  Labor,  and  incentives  to  the  Desire  of  Having. 
If,  then,  from  the  system  of  the  world  you  would  destroy  Property,  you  must 
be  able  to  eradicate  from  the  nature  of  man  in  each  individual  and  in  the  whole 
race,  an  inherent  and  essential  faculty  of  the  mind.  You  must  destroy  La- 
bor, and  the  value  of  its  rewards.  Better  rule  this  desire  by  wise  laws,  and 
true  and  rational  principles  of  Morality  and  Policy,  than  waste  strength  in 
doing  that  which  cannot  be  done. 

Another  thing  I  would  just  say  to  those  who  may  read  this  book.  As  in 
beasts,  a  certain  shape  of  hoof  always  imphes  horns,  and  horns  always  imply 
that  peculiar  shape  of  hoof,  and  yet  we  cannot  trace  the  logical  reason,  or 
even  the  natural  one, — only  as  a  fact  of  Natural  Science  it  is  so  ; — so  with 
regard  to  the  doctrine  of  "Community  of  Property,"  always  through  history 
as  a  fact,  we  see  it  has  implied  another  "  Community — that  of  Wives.  These 
two  always  have  been  connected,  one  always  has  inferred  the  other.  The 
"hoof"  has  always  implied  the  "horns" — the  "horns"  the  "hoof."  Let 
those,  therefore,  who  may  have  been  pleased  with  these  notions,  he  slow — look 
carefully — examine  cautiously — and  perhaps  they  may  see  the  "hoof"  and 
the  "  horns," — and  escape  from  both. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  237 

good — this  is  manifestly  in  what  we  call  Sensibility*  "  the  power 
of  Sensation  in  the  various  tissues  of  the  body,  by  which  it  has 
perceptions  and  emotions  of  Pleasure  and  Pain."  This  is  branched 
out  into  the  five  Senses,  which,  besides  their  giving  us  knowledge 
of  many  qualities  in  bodies  of  which  without  them  we  should  be 
otherwise  ignorant,  are  of  themselves  organs  of  Pleasure  and 
Pain. 

Now,  with  reference  to  this  subject,  let  us  consider  a  little. 
Here,  we  will  say,  is  a  Child — its  eyes  are  delighted  naturally 
with  anything  bright,  clear,  sparkling — it  has  never  had  experi- 
ence— a  lamp  is  brought  close  at  hand  to  it — it  puts  its  hand  di- 
rectly into  the  flame.  And  instantly  the  emotion  of  pain  is  caused 
in  a  very  great  degree,  and  the  hand  is  withdrawn. 

Now  observe,  had  there  been  no  Pain,  the  hand  would  have  re-' 
mained  there,  and  have  been  destroyed ;  and  secondly,  the  pain 
occurs  before  any  material  injury  takes  place,  or  rather  cotempo- 
raneous  with  the  smallest,  so  as  to  be  an  immediate  warning.  This 
emotion,  therefore,  is  in  its  simplest  form,  purely  defensive  and 
protective. 

Again,  look  at  Physical  Pleasure,  this  in  its  simplest  form  tends 
manifestly  to  the  preservation  of  the  body,  guiding  us  towards 
those  physical  things  external,  that  most  conduce  to  that  end.  To 
the  uncorrupted  appetite,  the  most  pleasant  food  is  always  the 
most  healthy.  The  things  that  to  the  senses  uncorrupted  give  a 
natural  feeling  of  pleasure  are  to  them  the  best — and  those  things 
that  are  not  pleasant  but  painful,  are  destructive. 

Now,  when  we  look  at  the  power  of  Habit  and  Experience,  we 
find  that  these  experiences  of  Pleasure  and  Pain,  by  man  and  by 
the  animals  having  bodily  organization,  are  enrolled  in  the  memory, 
so  that  the  experience  of  the  past  is  a  guide  to  the  present  and 
the  future,  and  thus,  that  the  period  of  infancy  in  the  animals  as 
well  as  in  man  is  by  this  means  a  period  of  Education  with  respect 
to  outward  things. 

Here  then  are  three  guides.  The  Spiritual  Sense  in  reference 
to  man's  Spiritual  being.  The  Sense  of  Having  in  reference  to  the 
mind.  The  Sense  of  Pleasure  and  Pain  in  reference  to  the  integ- 
rity and  preservation  of  the  bodily  organization. 

Pleasure  and  Pain  then  are  strictly  bodily,  for  the  preservation 

*  Sensibility  is  here  used  in  the  Physiological  sense. 


238  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

of  the  Body,  and  when  we  apply  them  to  the  mind  it  is  in  a  purely 
figurative  sense.  The  delight  for  instance  that  a  conscientious 
man  has  in  obeying  his  conscience,  is  not  only  not  bodily  pleasure, 
but  is  of  a  kind  so  wholly  and  entirely  different,  that  it  may  exist 
along  with  the  highest  degree  of  bodily  pain,  caused  by  that  very 
action. 

Good  and  Evil  then  are  not  determined  by  Pleasure  and  Pain ; 
for  the  Good  is  not  always  pleasant,  nor  the  Evil  always  painful. 
The  Good  may  bring  exceeding  Pain  and  the  Evil  exceeding  Plea- 
sure ;  and  yet  we  shall  be  bound  to  do  the  Good  and  not  to  do  the 
Evil ;  nay,  to  do  the  Good  when  the  Pain  is  so  great  that  it  ends 
in  the  utter  destruction  of  the  body,  as  martyrs  that  have  suffered 
death  in  fire,  because  they  felt  themselves  bound  to  maintain  the 
truth ;  as  patriots  that  have  died  in  torments  for  their  country's 
sake ;  and  as  women  that  have  borne  all  affliction  for  their  children, 
have  found,  and  received  the  applause  of  all  ages  for  it. 

Pleasure  and  Pain  then  are  for  the  Good  and  Evil  of  the  Body,'' 
They  meddle  not  with  the  Good  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  not  to  he 
measured  hy  them,  hut  itself  is  to  he  superior  to  them. 

I  have  already,  in  the  early  part  of  this  treatise,  shown  that  each 
man  has  in  his  estimation  some  one  object  that  he  considers  to  be 
his  Highest  Gfood : — now  let  us  take  these  ordinary  objects  we  see 
men  pursue,  and  we  shall  plainly  see  that  they  admit  of  a  three- 
fold division.  If  the  man  places  his  Highest  Good  in  obeying  his 
Conscience,  or  living  with  justice,  holiness  or  truth — then  shall  his 
Highest  Good  be  in  and  within  the  regions  of  the  Spirit  or  Moral 
Being.  If  he  places  it  in  "Having,"  no  matter  what  form  of  it, — 
having  power,  or  having  wealth,  or  having  fame,  or  having  pro- 
perty ;  then  it  is  within  the  animal  mind.  The  man  is  Selfish. 
Again,  if  his  main  object  be  bodily  Pleasure,  no  matter  how  or 
in  what  way  it  is,  the  man  is  Sensual. 

This  is  the  true  definition  of  Sensuality.  The  Sensual  man 
makes  the  pleasure  of  the  hody  his  Highest  Good — he  lives  for  the 
sake  of  feeling  hodily  pleasure  and  avoiding  hodily  pain. 

When  we  consider  the  glutton,  the  drunkard,  the  epicure,  the 
licentious  man,  in  them  »11  we  shall  see  that  they  are  all  Sensual, 
they  make  the  pleasure  of  the  physical  frame  the  end  for  which 
they  live,  and  that  by  which  they  measure  their  Good  and  their 
Evil. 

And  we  see  plainly  that  these  are  the  Good  and  the  Evil  of  the 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  239 

beasts  that  perish;*  they  have  no  other  Good  and  Evil  than 
physical  Pleasure  and  Pain. 

We  have  already  shown  how  what  is  ordinarily  called  vicious- 
ness  of  life  is  Sensuality  in  a  great  degree,  properly  so  called. 
Another  form  of  Sensuality  we  would  now  notice. 

There  are  persons  who  look  upon  vice  and  its  pleasures,  and 
pains ;  and  who  by  mere  reason  argue  in  this  way :  "  Vice  is 
injurious  and  destructive  even  to  its  own  object, — the  desire  of 
high-wrought  Physical  happiness  and  its  ecstacies  of  pleasure  are 
attended  by  revulsions  of  the  deepest  physical  distress — it  shatters, 
destroys,  ruins  life  and  fortune  and  character, — and  therefore  man 
ought  not  to  he  vicious.  But  he  may  take  the  same  desire  that  urges 
on  the  vicious  man,  the  same  Sensuality ;  he  may  guide  and  govern 
it  by  reason  and  so  his  enjoyment  shall  be  permanent,  steady 
and  equable.     He  may  live  for  it  and  it  only,  and  suffer  no  evil." 

There  are  multitudes  that  do  so ;  that  look  to  the  Home,  only 
as  a  place  of  temperate  sensual  pleasure ;  that  steadily  and  system- 

*  Now  let  my  reader  look  at  the  Sensualist  philosophy  of  John  Locke,  and 
make  his  choice  between  it  and  that  in  this  Treatise. 

"  Good  and  Evil  what — Things  then  are  Good  and  Evil  only  in  reference  to 
Pleasure  and  Pain.  That  we  call  Good  which  is  apt  to  cause  or  increase 
Pleasure  or  diminish  Pain  in  us ;  or  else  to  procure  or  preserve  us  the  pos- 
session of  any  other  good,  or  absence  of  any  evil.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
we  name  that  evil  which  is  apt  to  produce  or  increase  any  pain  or  diminish 
any  pleasure  in  us ;  or  else  to  procure  any  evil  or  deprive  us  of  any  good. 
By  Pleasure  or  Pain  I  must  be  understood  to  mean  of  body  or  mind,  as  they 
are  commonly  distinguished ;  though  in  truth  they  be  only  different  constitu- 
tions of  the  mind,  sometimes  occasioned  by  disorder  in  the  body,  sometimes 
by  thoughts  in  the  mind." — ^Locke's  Essay  on  Human  Understanding,  Book 
II.  Chap.  20,  Section  2. 

To  follow  this  out  we  shall  show  what  that  philosophy  ended  in.  Listen 
to  the  estimate  of  its  result  and  its  tendency,  made  by  Louis  Blanc,  a  bold 
and  daring  Socialist,  but  unquestionably  a  man  of  genius. 

"  It  was  in  England  that  Voltaire  had  drunk  in  that  Epicurean  Wisdom, 
which  he  carried  among  the  French,  *  *  *  he  read  the  works  of  the 
wise  Locke,  *  the  only  one  who  has  taught  the  human  mind  to  understand 
itself,'  and  he  had  yielded  vrithout  effort  to  the  doctrine  received  from  Aristotle, 
that  our  ideas  are  derived  from  our  senses.  *  *  *  Thus  Voltaire,  on  re- 
turning to  France,  carried  with  him  the  education  England  had  given  him, 
his  religion  was  Deism,  his  philosophy  Sensation,  his  system  of  morality 
Tolerance.  The  overthrow  of  Christianity  was  his  aim." — History  of  French 
Revolution,  Philadelphia,  1848,  1  vol.  p.  214. 

Can  this  Philosophy  end  in  anything  else? 


240  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

atically  pervert  all  the  Affections  t6  means  of  Epicurean  enjoy- 
ment, and  quietly  make,  as  far  as  they  can,  all  things  terminate  in 
their  own  "  pleasure,"  or  bodily  appetites.  This  is  just  as  much 
Sensuality  as  is  that  of  the  openly  and  lawlessly  gluttonous  or 
licentious  man. 

Well,  is  it  not  lawful  to  enjoy  oneself  ?  Certainly  it  is ;  but  not 
to  make  it  the  main  end  of  life;  not  to  maJce  it  the  Supreme 
Grood.  It  is  lawful  to  keep  the  home  comfortable,  but  not  to  make 
comfort  the  sole  end  and  object  of  life.  For  as  I  have  said  about 
Selfishness,  so  Sensuality,  however  tempered  and  modified,  is  still 
Sensuality,  and  both  are  immoral  in  any  shape. 

According  to  Paley,  Selfishness  so  tempered  and  guided  is 
the  right  and  only  spring  of  action.  According  to  the  principles 
of  Locke,  in  reference  to  Pleasure  and  Pain,  Sensuality  is  so  too. 
But  not  according  to  what  I  conceive  both  natural  and  Christian 
morality  to  be ;  the  Sensual  and  the  Selfish  are  as  plainly  con- 
demned by  Nature  and  in  the  Scriptures  as  may  be ;  and  therefore 
I  must  conclude  that  no  modification  of  either  quality  can  be 
moral. 

What  then  is  the  true  course  of  action  here  and  the  true  remedy  ? 
— the  same  that  we  spoke  of  in  the  case  of  Selfishness  do  we  give 
in  the  case  "  Sensuality."  Make  not  your  home  a  mere  place  for 
the  pleasures  of  Sense,  that  you  there  receive,  or  soon  will  you 
cease  to  love  it  at  all,  you  will  soon  become  and  be  Sensual :  but 
love  your  home  and  your  family /i9r  themselves,  and  permit  not  Sel- 
fishness or  Sensuality  to  come  in  and  to  spoil  the  holiest  of  all  Affec- 
tions, that  of  the  Family.  Let  the  Home  be  in  your  mind  for 
them,  for  their  comforts,  for  their  pleasure,  and  not  for  your  own  ; 
and  so  will  you  find  in  them  and  in  their  love  a  degree  of  actual 
pleasure  that  you  never  could  have  found  in  Self  or  Sense. 

But  the  completion  and  perfection  of  this  is  to  be  attained  only 
in  the  Christian  Home, — this  alone  can  completely  and'entirely  put 
an  end  in  the  Family  to  these  two  evils.  The  Family  is  the 
natural  School  to  unteach*  man  these  two  faults  of  the  Affections  ; 
and  only  as  sanctified  and  perfected  by  Christianity,  is  its  function 
to  this  effect  complete. 

Having  thus  discussed  the  faults  of  the  Affections  that  come 
upon  man's  heart  naturally  because  of  his  fallen  state,  we  shall  in 
the  next  chapter  consider  the  "  Body." 

*  Dedocet  uti. — Horace. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  241 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Body — it  is  not  evil — but  it  is  affected,  first,  by  Self-will,  Selfishness  and 
Sensuality.  Second,  by  death  and  disease  entering  the  frame,  and  by  the  loss 
of  the  Sacrament  of  Life.  Third,  by  weakness  of  those  mental  powers  that 
remain,  and  by  total  loss  of  others. — False  imaginations  about  a  future 
state  recounted  and  reproved,  and  true  ideas  in  their  stead. — Our  "  body"  is 
not  that  of  brutes,  and  thereby  contemptible,  but  is  to  be  reverenced ;  and 
of  this  the  reason  is,  that  the  Word  assumed  Flesh,  was  born,  lived  and 
died  as  man — And  is  now  as  Man  upon  the  throne  of  heaven. 

It  will  have  been  seen  in  the  last  chapter  that  two  of  the  main 
faults  of  the  Affections  arise  directly  from  the  "  Animal  Mind" 
the  one,  and  from  the  "body"  the  other,  these  feelings  taking 
the  place  of  the  Affections,  and  being  substituted  for  them ;  and 
hence  Selfishness  and  SensuaKty  both  come  from  the  animal  part 
of  our  nature. 

The  question,  then,  may  arise,  "  Is  not  this  material  organization, 
therefore,  that  we  call  the  Body  the  cause  in  itself  of  our  Evil  ?" 
We  answer,  that  to  make  the  Body  rule  and  be  the  main  object  of 
our  Good,  this  is  to  be  Carnal  or  Sensual,  and  is,  as  we  have  shown, 
the  source  of  multitudinous  evil ;  but  the  Body  in  itself,  no  more 
than  the  Spiritual  part,  is  evil.  The  Body,  ruled  and  governed, 
is  in  its  proper  place,  and  the  Spirit,  as  ruling  and  governing,  but 
one  is  no  more  evil  by  its  nature  than  the  other. 

The  inordinacy  that  comes  from  Original  Sin,  and  'inability  to 
be  obedient  to  the  Law  of  God,  run  through  all  parts  of  man's 
nature, — "the  whole  head  is  sick  and  the  whole  heart  is  faint" — 
and  the  Body  is  wounded  as  the  Spiritual  part  is.  But  the  one  is 
not  in  its  nature  wholly  or  essentially  evil  any  more  than  the 
other.  The  Body  with  its  powers  is  in  nature  good,  but  fallen, 
just  as  the  whole  man  is ;  nay,  there  is  not  a  function,  or  a  desire, 
or  appetite,  or  instinct  of  the  Body  that  is  not  in  itself  good, 
when  it  is  guided  and  governed  by  the  Law  of  God.  This  is  the 
decision  of  the  Ancient  Church  against  the  Manichseans,  a  decision 
worthy  to  be  brought  up  again  and  again,  and  impressed  and  urged 
upon  all  men  as  one  of  the  primal  truths  of  a  real  Christian 
Science. 

31 


242  CHRISTIAN  gCIENCE. 

And  this  being  laid  down,  the  question  then  will  arise,  "  What, 
then,  is  the  Body  in  quality,  and  what  is  its  condition  and  nature  ?'* 
The  answer  to  this  is,  good  still,  but  fallen, — this  its  condition. 
How  it  is  good  we  shall  afterwards  determine — but  how  it  is  fallen 
is  answered  in  two  ways  ;  first,  as  concerning  its  desires,  which 
are  "Uncontrolled,"  " Selfish,"  " Sensual," — ^which  may  be  seen 
also  to  be  the  resolution  of  that  true  Ethical  Philosopher,  St. 
James,  when  he  declares  that  "this  wisdom,"* that  of  the  Flesh, 
is  "earthly,"  "sensual,"  "devilish" — ^three  epithets  that  most 
distinctly  are  identical  with  Uncontrolled  (devilish, — ^rebellious, 
that  is  against  the  Law  of  God,)  Selfish,  that  is,  "Earthly"  and 
Sensual.  Hereby,  then,  do  we  count  that  the  mere  "Animal 
Nature"  is  perverted  itself,  and  perverts  and  destroys  the  Heart, 
and  through  it  the  whole  man. 

This  we  count  to  be  upon  the  Animal  Nature  of  man  one 
great  injury  wrought  by  "  Original  Sin,"  and  the  three  elements 
of  that  onef  injury  are  called  in  the  Scriptures  by  the  name  of 
the  Will,  or  Lust  of  the  Flesh ;  and  are,  in  the  estimate  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  the  Ancient  Church,  the  chief  bringer  in  and 
leader  into  sin.  And  indeed,  this  embracing  these  three,  shall  be 
what  St.  Augustine  calls  the  "  fuel  of  Sin."J 

This,  as  we  have  said,  is  the  first  way  in  which  the  body  is 
injured  by  "  Original  Sin." 

Again :  manifestly  man  was  originally  an  immortal  being.  God 
made  him  not  imperfect,  but  perfect  in  all  his  parts.  And  existing 
as  he  did  in  Time  and  Space,  and  the  particles  of  his  frame  being 
in  a  perpetual  flow,  it  must  necessarily  be  that  this  immortality  of 
his  should  be  an  immorXality  of  supply,  a  power  in  his  frame 
of  supply  commensurate  with  decay,  of  restorative  power,  both 
internally  and  externally,  equal  to  repair  all  possible  deterioration 
of  particles. 

And  accordingly  we  find  that  even  now,  in  the  very  nature  and 
being  of  man,  there  are  what  the  physicians  call  the  "  Forces 
Medicatrices  de  la  Nature,"  the  "  Medicinal  powers  of  Nature 

*  I  take  it  that  this  "  -wisdom"  or  "  philosophy"  is  an  Epicurean  worldly 
wisdom,  that  makes  interest  and  self-gratification  its  Highest  Good. 

t  "  Self-love,"  "  Selfishness,"  "  Sensuality,"  together,  are  the  constituent 
parts  of  what  St.  Augustine  calls  "  Concupiscence,"  or  "Evil  Desire." 

X  "  Concupiscentia  est  fomes  peccati."  "Concupiscence  is  the  fuel  of  Sin." 
— St.  Augustine. 


THE  HEAET   OR  AFFECTIONS.  243 

Herself;"  by  which  self-restorative  power,  in  fact,,  all  diseases 
are  cured,  the  effect  of  what  we  call  "medicine"  being  only  to 
remove  obstacles  in  their  way,  while  these  cure.  So  that  the  human 
frame  is  a  self-repairing  machine,  a  self-healing  animal  organiza- 
tion. And  this  consideration  led  one  of  the  greatest  minds*  of 
this  century  at  once  to  pronounce  the  fact  of  the  original  immor-  * 
tality  of  man ;  for  a.  self-repairing  machine,  if  its  repairs  are  or 
can  he  equal  to  its  decays,  is  or  can  he  an  always  lasting  machine. 

And  again  ;  by  the  Holy  Scriptures  we  find  that  there  was  to 
man  externally  the  means  of  a  perpetual  supply  in  the  "  Tree  of 
Life"  in  the  centre  of  the  garden,  the  fruit  of  which  seems  to 
have  been,  as  it  were,  the  Sacrament  of  Life,  a  perpetual  means 
whereby  from  without  him  a  constant  and  adequate  supply  was 
given  to  the  lamp  of  immortality  that  burned  in  his  undying  Body, 
ihefood  of  life,  and  appropriate  nutriment  to  the  immortal  organ- 
ization. So  that  as  to  the  Spiritual  part  there  was  that  Super- 
natural Gift  that  we  have  specified ;  in  like  manner,  also,  unto  the 
immortal  frame  there  was  the  corresponding  external  supernatural 
supply  of  immortality.  Andf  the  true  difference  between  man  as 
he  was  originally  in  reference  to  Kfe,  and  the  post-Resurrection 
man  is  this — that  the  first  man  was  able  not  to  die,  and  man  as 
raised  shall  be  not  able  to  die. 

Upon  the  "Body,"  then,  another  effect  of  Original  Sin  is  this:  ' 
"  Sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  Death  by  Sin,"  and  "  Death  has 
passed  upon  all,  inasmuch  as  all  have  sinned." 

But  over  and  above  this,  or  perhaps  in  consequence  of  this,  it 
seems  that  the  "Animal  Mind,"  or,  as  others  call  it,  the  "  Under- 
standing,"—  the  "Mental  Power,"  that  is,  which  deals  with 
the  things  of  Sense,  the  objects  of  the  Visible  World — ^has  been 
injured. 

And  this,  we  can  see,  has  taken  place  in  a  two-fold  way :  the 
first  by  a  superinduced  imperfection  in  the  action  of  its  faculties ; 
and  the  second,  by  an  actual  diminution  of  them  in  number. 
These  two  mental  injuries  we  shall  now  proceed  to  examine. 

When  we  look  at  the  possession  of  mental  powers,  we  feel  in  our- 
selves the  sense  of  imperfection,  both  in  the  comparison  of  some 
men's  powers,  with  others  naturally,  and  also  as  to  the  effect  of 
cultivation.     There  seems,  as  regards  mental  power,  to  be  about 

*  Napoleon  Bonaparte.        t  This  distinction  is  St.  Augustine's. 


244  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

as  much  difference  between  a  rude  European  peasant  and  an 
American  citizen,  with  an  ordinary  education,  almost  as  between 
a  beast  and  a  man. 

The  effect  manifestly  this  is  of  Education  entirely  and  com- 
pletely. For  the  whole  of  the  Institutions  of  Society  in  this 
country,  and  the  whole  of  its  influences,  are  Educational ;  so  that 
in  fact  to  him  who  truly  contemplates  the  Republic  in  this  point 
of  view,  it  is  fully  manifest  that  that  saying  of  the  ancient  Greek 
philosopher*  is,  in  effect,  entirely  correct ;  "  that  a  True  Republic  is 
truly  a  School."  And  the  more  perfect  the  Republic  becomes  in 
spirit  and  action,  the  more  perfectly  all  its  institutions  must  have 
an  Educational  effect. 

Again ;  over  and  above  this  difference  between  one  man  and 
another,  as  to  mental  culture,  each  one  who  lives  has  the  internal 
feeling  of  weakness  and  effort  in  all  his  mental  exertions.  It 
seems  as  if  there  was  a  feeling  that  inability,  weakness,  deficiency, 
were  inherent  in  the  mental  powers  of  every  man. 

There  is  no  one  that  I  have  ever  met  that  has  not,  in  a  measure, 
acknowledged  this ;  has  not  had  before  his  mind  constantly  an 
ideal,  or  mental  image,  or  model  of  his  own  powers  of  mind,  to 
which,  if  he  could  reach,  his  mind  would  be  perfect ;  and  after  or 
towards  which  it  is  his  constant  struggle  to  labor. 

And  this  internal  feeling  is  met  and  nourished  externally  by 
two  facts  :  the  first,  the  fact  of  Instinct,  that  animals  do,  without 
effort,  almost  unconsciously,  and  with  unerring  precision,  things 
that  we  do  laboriously,  strugglingly,  and  feebly.  This  seems  to 
cherish  in  us  the  feeling  that,  if  perfect^  then  without  labor,  or 
struggle,  perfect,  complete,  and  almost  unconscious,  though  still 
voluntary,  would  be  the  action  of  our  mental  powers. 

The  second  fact  that  responds  to  and  cherishes  that  sensation 
of  mental  imperfection  and  weakness  in  all  men  is,  that  now  and 
then  some  powers  reach,  in  individual  men,  almost,  if  not  alto- 
gether, to  that  degree  of  effortless  and  perfect  action  that  we  attri- 
bute to  them  naturally.  Mozart  had  the  sense  and  power  of 
music  so  strong,  that,  as  an  infant,  he  beat  time  to  the  carillons  or 
chimes  from  a  neighboring  church.  Zisca,  the  chieftain  of  the 
Hussites,  had  such  a  perfect  sense  of  locality,  that  the  whole 
country  of  Bohemia  was  so  mapped  out  in  his  brain,  that  when  he 

*  Plato. 


THE  HEART  OB  AFFECTIONS.  245 

had  lost  both  his  eyes,  he  fought  pitched  battles  and  conducted 
the  whole  operations  of  the  war  as  if  he  were  able  to  see.  Barret 
and  Magliabechi  forgot  nothing  they  had  ever  read.  Colburn  per- 
formed the  most  diflScult  arithmetical  problems  almost  without  an 
effort.  And  Geometers  have  not  been  wanting  that  had  in  Geo- 
metry the  same  power.  These  facts  responding  to  the  internal  sense 
of  effort  and  labor  that  ordinary  men  must  employ  in  mental 
efforts,  seem  to  say  that  mental  imperfection  is  in  weakness  and 
inability.  And  that  strength  is  that  which  is  required,  so  that  if 
strength  could  be  given  to  the  mental  powers  generally,  and  to 
each  faculty  individually,  then  would  they  be  perfect ;  and  that 
perfection  would  consist  in  action,  unimpaired  and  complete,  as 
regards  the  individual  faculty,  and  without  effort  or  labor.  This 
part  of  our  nature,  then,  shows  manifestly  the  traces  of  the  effect 
upon  Nature  that  we  have  attributed  to  "Original  Sin," — ^that  is, 
inability  to  fulfil  the  law  of  its  being. 

But  it  is  now  time  to  consider  the  second  effect  of  Original  Sin 
upon  the  "Mental  Powers."  The  first  we  had  stated  to  be 
"  imperfection  of  those  powers  that  we  have ;"  the  second,  is  "  an 
actual  diminution  of  our  Mental  Powers  in  number."  I  think, 
from  the  relation  that  we  can  see  the  Human  Nature  of  man  once 
bore  to  the  external  world,  and  the  position  of  perfect  obedience, 
in  which  all  created  beings  in  it  stood  towards  him,  and  the 
dominion  which  we  are  told  he  had  over  the  powers  of  nature  by 
his  very  being:  from  this,' as  also  from  the  disjointed  way  in 
which,  at  present,  he  stands  towards  the  external  world,  I  think 
that  it  is  a  very  natural  and  easy  conclusion,  that  originally  there 
were  in  man's  nature,  powers  and  faculties  of  body  and  mind 
which  now  he  does  not  possess. 

And  that  these  powers  having  been  fully  developed,  and  in  full 
operajtion  in  the  Primal  Man  in  his  state  of  Original  Righteous- 
ness, have,  by  means  of  the  changed  relation  of  man  to  all  things, 
in  consequence  of  his  sin,  shrunk  back,  as  it  were,  into  his  being, 
and  been  withered  up,  until  hardly  the  vestiges  and  indications  of 
them  remain. 

So  that  with  regard  to  man,  we  may  say,  in  reference  to  these 
powers  and  capabilities,  that  they  lie  folded  up  in  his  being,  never 
coming  to  maturity  of  action  or  ripeness,  as  the  germ  of  the  fruit 
in  buds  that  never  come  to  flowers,  or  as  the  wings  and  plumage 


246  CHRIBTIAN  SCIENCE.  ,  . 

of  the  butterfly  in  the  chrysalis,  or  as  the  ramifications  of  truni 
and  branch,  twig  and  foliage  in  the  acorn  of  the  oak. 

This,  I  would  say,  seems  to  be  the  case  with  man's  being,  in 
reference  to  a  multitude  of  powers,  whose  existence  and  nature  we 
can  hardly  guess  at,  save  in  the  one  way  of  analogical  conjecture, 
that  they  must  have  been  of  those  that  bound  the  external  world 
in  obedience  to  his  commands.  The  being,  nature,  and  extent  of 
these  powers,  what  they  are,  or  how,  in  what  condition  they  would 
place  man  if  now  called  forth,  seems  to  be  wrapped  up  in  utter 
darkness ;  but  that  such  have  an  actual  existence  as  possibilitieSf 
it  seems  to  me  all  things  around  us,  by  their  analogies,  lead  us 
immediately  to  conclude. 

The  subject  is  an  extensive  one,  and  capable  of  a  great  many 
curious  and  interesting  inferences  and  conclusions  being  drawn 
from  it ;  but  it  is  enough,  for  our  present  purpose,  merely  to  indi- 
cate it  as  a  thing  very  probable,  and  agreeing  strictly  with  man's 
position  as  he  is  at  present. 

We  shall  consider,  then,  that  upon  the  Body  of  Man,  the  eJBfects 
of  Original  Sin  are :  first, — Concupiscence,  embracing  "  Self-will, 
or  UncontroUedness,"  "  Selfishness,"  and  "Sensuality." 

Secondly, — ^the  loss  of  natural  immortality,  and  the  Sacrament 
of  it ;  and  the  varied  consequences  of  disease  and  decay. 

Thirdly, — the  utter  loss  and  ruin  of  some  mental  powers,  by 
their  becoming  shrunken  and  decayed  in  his  nature,  so  that  now 
they  exist  as  germs  and  possibilities  only,  not  as  actual  powers. 

And  lastly, — ^the  weakening  and  decay  of  all  the  remaining  men- 
tal faculties. 

This,  I  conceive,  embraces  all  the  efiects  of  Original  Sin  upon 
the  Body,  so  far  as  we  are  able,  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith, 
to  draw  them  from  the  meditations  of  the  Church  for  many  ages 
upon  Holy  Scripture  and  her  practical  contemplations  upon  the 
nature  and  being  of  man. 

^  And  the  conclusion  practically  that  we  may  come  to,  is  this :  "it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when  He 
shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him."* 

But  one  thing  I  think  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  noted  is, 
that  "we  should  look  more  to  changes  in  ourselves,  and  less  to 
changes  in  external  things,  in  reference  to  our  resurrection  and  its 

*  1  John,  ii.  3. 


\ 

THE  HEAB.T   OR  AFFECTIONS.  fifX 

consequences.  For  I  do  think,  one  of  the  most  predominant  faults 
of  this  age  is,  that  in  reference  to  the  Future  Life,  men,  in  a  way 
almost  unknown  to  themselves,  a  sort  of  unconscious  and  unwilling 
self-deceit,  take  it  for  granted  that  all  the  weaknesses,  feeblenesses, 
imperfections  of  their  present  state  of  being,  shall  still  remain 
in  them,  and  be  transferred  with  them  to  Heaven.  And  then  by 
the  aid  of  a  lively  and  constructive  imagination,  they  go  on  to  build 
themselves  up  a  material  Paradise,  that  shall  contain  in  itself 
externally  the  supply  of  all  these  weaknesses  and  imperfections. 
And  thereby  fall  into  a  Mohammedan  dream  of  a  sensual  Heaven  ; 
a  paradise  in  which  the  full  supply  of  bodily  wants  shall  be  the 
happiness ;  as  if  the  body  were  now  perfect  and  Sin  Original 
were  not  its  imperfection,  to  be  removed  then  with  all  its  conse- 
quences. 

To  them,  we  say,  if  "  UncontroUedness  "  remain,  then  the 
power  of  doing  absolutely  whatever  we  will,  under  certain  limits, 
shall  be  a  part  of  the  happiness  of  Heaven.  But  if  this  "  Self- 
will"  bo  a  consequence  of  "Original  Sin,"  and  with  it  is  to  be 
taken  away,  then  most  likely  an  absolute  and  entire  obedience  to 
God's  Law, — so  that,  like  a  planet  around  the  sun,  we  shall  eter- 
nally move  round  the  central  light  of  God  in  one  undeviating 
course,  suspended  from  his  Being  by  a  law  ever  one, — this, 
if  "UncontroUedness"  be  taken  away,  may  be  our  completest 
happiness. 

We  say  again,  if  "  Selfishness  "  still  remain,  then  most  likely, 
in  having  all  possible  power,  riches,  knowledge,  everything  which 
in  this  world  we  can  have,  may  be  a  part  of  our  happiness,  and  it 
is  but  a  fair  and  decent  employment  of  the  intellect,  to  build  up 
such  an  imagined  paradise  of  Having.  But  if  this  be  not  so,  and 
Selfishness  is  not  a  part  of  our  nature,  but  a  consequence  of  the 
Fall,  to  be  taken  away  at  the  resurrection,  it  may  be  that  having 
and  self-appropriation  may  not  exist  in  the  future  life.  But  our 
Bupremest  joy  may  be  in  perpetually  receiving,  that  we  may  per- 
petually pour  forth  upon  others  in  a  less  perfect  state  the  favors 
of  God's  mercy.  Our  happiness  may  not  be  in  possession  at  ally 
but  in  being  the  channels  of  benefits  to  others, — vessels  of  mercy 
— urns  wherein,  from  the  crystal  sea,  the  waters  are  eternally 
lifted,  and  wherefrom  they  are  eternally  poured  forth. 

And  if  Sensuality  still  be,  in  heaven,  a  defect  and  tendency  of 
our  nature,  then  in  earthly  Desires  and  revellings,  in  the  enjoy* 


I 

248  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

:  ments  of  the  Animal  Desires  and  Appetite  we  may  naturally  place 
one  blessedness  of  a  future  life.  As  the  old  ChiHasts  did,  who, 
under  decent  shapes,  as  Dionysius,  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  says, 
"made  of  heaven  a  place  of  sensuality,"  saying,an  decent  terms, 
that  "  it  was  a  place  "  in  which  "  they  were  to  offer  sacrifices  and 
feast  upon  them  continually,  and  to  be  perpetually  celebrating  mar- 
riages." Or  else  men  may,  as  Mahomet,  imagine  his  heavenly 
tree  of  paradise,  the  Tooba,  of  which  so  many  different  dishes  were 
the  fruits,  and  from  which  sprung  the  Houries,  damsels  of  Para- 
dise, to  wait  upon  the  blest ; — a  sensual  and  licentious  heaven. 
These  follies  are  fair  reasoning  if  Sensuality  yet  remain.  But  if 
it  be  as  the  dross  mingled  with  the  gold,  an  imperfection  that  is  to 
vanish  with  this  life,  then  these  dreams  are  evil  and  absurd,  and 
we  are  not  to  attribute  to  the  glorified  body  the  *  Concupiscence 
of  that  which  is  fallen,  but  to  content  ourselves  with  the  certainty, 
that  "as  He  is  so  shall  we  be  also,"  "  when  I  wake  up  after  thy 
image  I  shall  be  satisfied  with  it." 

For  there  is  no  idea  that  contains  a  wider  range  of  mystery  and 
of  possible  glory  than  this  of  a  "  Spiritual  Body,"  "  a  body  which 
being  material,  shall  yet  come  as  nearly  to  the  nature  of  Spirit  as 
being  still  body  it  can  come."f  Nay,  even  the  heathen  philosopher 
Pliny  had  a  glimmering  idea  of  this,  when  he  stated  that  man 
was  naturally  a  being,  "  all  eye,  all  ear,  all  sense,  in  each  and 
every  part." 

*  The  Concupiscence  of  St.  Augustine,  which  he  counts  to  be  "  the  fuel  of 
Sin,"  (fomes  peccati)  embraces  then  these  affections.  Self-will,  Selfishness,  Sen- 
suality. It  is  properly  an  affection  of  the  Body  and  of  its  representative,  the 
Animal  Mind.  And  through  these  it  rises  up  against  and  into  that  part  of 
the  Moral  Nature  that  we  call  the  Heart,  and  debases  and  adulterates  it,  so 
that  for  obedience  there  is  rebellion  and  lawlessness ;  for  nobleness  and  Chris- 
tian beneficence  there  is  meanness  and  selfishness ;  for  love  and  affection 
there  is  lust  and  exorbitant  passion.  In  Scripture,  this  Concupiscence  (evil 
desire)  is  called  "lust,"  the  "carnal  mind,"  the  "Will  of  the  Flesh."  It  is 
that  by  which  and  in  which  Sin  Original  issues  forth  in  actual  sin.  While 
we  remain  on  earth  it  abides  in  our  bodily  constitution,  and  therein  existing,  it 
is  the  occasion  to  temptation, — and  this  it  is  that  makes  our  life  a  constant 
struggle.  But  when  we  rise  again  we  shall  arise  without  Concupiscence. 
Selfishness,  therefore,  Sensuality,  Self-Will  shall  have  no  place  in  heaven. 
And  Paradises,  Selfish,  Self-willed,  or  Sensual  are  but  the  dreams  of  men 
Ignorant  of  the  nature  of  man  on  earth,  and  man  in  heaven,  and  untaught  in 
fche  Spirit  of  Christ  our  Lord. 

t  S^  Bishop  Nicholson  on  the  Catechism. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  249 

Nor  ■would  men  dream  of  a  Paradise  of  learning  and  knowledge 
and  physical  science,  if  they  could  feel  how  truly  in  this  world 
"  Knowledge  "  and  "  Science  "  are  only  helps  to  imperfection,  and 
how  if  the  man  were  restored  to  his  Original  State,  through  his 
Gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  working  upon  his  perfect  being,  "  knowl- 
edge "  would  be  swallowed  up  in  Intuition  and  faith  in  Sight,  and 
from  the  Spirit  of  God  the  omniscience  as  it  were  of  the  Almighty 
would  so  dwell  in  the  man  as  the  water  in  a  vessel  plunged  in  the 
ocean,  which  being  in  itself  limited,  is  yet  filled  unto  its  fullness, 
and  communicates  with  the  unlimited: — and  so  through  this 
omniscience  poured  into  his  soul,  according  to  his  measure  and  his 
necessity,  man  with  entire  and  immediate  certainty,  would  then  see 
and  know  all  things  necessary  to  him.*  And  thus  even  that  which 
we  call  "  Knowledge,"  its  means,  instruments,  struggles  shall 
vanish  in  the  fuller  and  completer  sight  of  the  Spiritual  being. 

If  men  could  at  all  see  this,  would  they  make  a  Heaven  of 
knowledge?  Would  they  not  rather  see  that  "holiness,"  and 
"peace,"  and  "joy,"  and  the  calmness  of  eternal  bliss, — and  the 
seeing  of  Him  face  to  face,  to  whom  all  things  are  present,  and  all 
things  known,  would  make  their  happiness  ?  And  this  while  it  con- 
fers knowledge,  yet  makes  it  of  but  little  avail ; — as  to  the  Blind 
the  knowledge  that  he  can  gather,  from  the  descriptions  of  others, 
of  the  visible  world  is  most  precious  while  he  yet  does  not  see,  but 
when  his  eyes  are  opened, — then,  this  otherwise  a  help  becomes 
useless,  and  having  sight,  he  thinks  of  it  no  more ;  so  must  it  be 
with  regard  to  what  we  call  knowledge,  nay  more  with  regard  to 
Faith,  when  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  Almighty  and 
enabled  to  look  into  the  mirror  of  his  omniscience,  wherein  all 
things  are  portrayed. 

Away  !  with  these  dreamings,  this  wish  to  frame  externally, 
imaginary  modes  of  supplying  imperfections,  arising  from  "Ori- 
ginal Sin,"  and  idly  supposed  to  be  carried  into  our  heavenly 
abode.  "  Original  Sin"  shall  pass  from  us  and  with  it  its  defects  ; 
and  "  Self-will  "  and  "  Selfishness  "  and  "  Sensuality  "  and  "  rest- 
less intellect," — these  shall  perish  and  die,  and  have  no  heavens 
built  for  them.  But  "  we  shall  he  as  he  is;"  and  the  entire  removal 
of  these  faults  and  deficiencies,  which  in  itself  would  make  of  this 

*  This  is  the  effect  of  the  "  Vision  of  God"— that  seeing  Him  as  He  is,  we 
shall  see  all  things  in  Him. 

32 


250  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

earth  a  heaven,  if  their  root*  were  cut  up  and  eradicated  from 
man's  nature,  this  shall  fit  him  for  the  New  Heaven  and  the  New 
Earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression,  we  have  shown  wherein  the 
body  and  the  mental  powers  that  belong  to  man  are  injured  by  the 
taint  of  Original  Sin,  and  wherein  and  how  it  is  possible  that  this 
may  be  improved  by  the  casting  away,  at  the  gate  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, of  those  deficiencies. 

And  this  should  sufficiently  show  that  this  "  Body,"  made  by 
God  as  part  of  the  whole  nature,  "which  is  in  his  image,"  is  not 
of  man  to  be  despised,  is  not  to  be  looked  at  with  Cynic  scorn  or 
Stoic  contempt,  not  as  a  "mere  envelope  of  the  soul,"  a  "  garment 
coarse  and  filthy,  that  we  wear  only  of  necessity  ;"  nor  yet  in  the 
Platonic  style  of  thought,  as  "  our  tomb,  the  sepulchre  of  the 
soul ;"  still  less  with  the  brute  indifference  that  looks  upon  it  as 
it  would  look  upon  the  carcase  of  a  beast,  dead  and  cast  out. 
But  that  it  is  the  "  corporeal "  which,  the  dross  being  refined  away, 
shall  become  and  be  the  Spiritual,  remaining  yet  the  same,  but 
purified;  it  is  the  mortal  which,  raised  up  by  the  Life  of  God, 
shall  be  the  immortal ;  the  Body  now  crude  and  imperfect,  full  of 
flaws  and  weaknesses,  that  shall  then  be  holy  and  upright  and 
pure  and  perfect — a  plant  now  buried  and  hidden  darkly  in  the 
earth  of  this  present  life,  that  shall  shoot  up  yet  into  the  realms 
of  upper  day. 

This  is  a  point  of  Morality  which  we  would  have  men  see,  and 
learn,  and  feel,  and  act  upon ;  for  we  have  seen  and  know  that  to 
despise  the  Body,  to  look  upon  it  merely  with  indifi"erence  and 
contempt,  as  brutal,  or  our  "brute  part,"  as  men  have  said  who 
thought  themselves  wise — this  easily  leads  to  evil :  but  reverence 
and  respect  to  our  bodily  frame,  and  that  of  our  fellows,  this  is  of 
itself  moral. 

Let  the  man  be  supposed  to  look  upon  the  body  of  man  because 
of  its  similarity  of  function,  to  be  no  more  than  that  of  a  Brute, — 
show  me  such  a  man,  and  if  he  be  a  non-professor,  I  will  show  you 
one  who  has  low,  and  mean,  and  filthy  thoughts  and  words, — and 

*  The  doctrine  of  the  Church  unquestionably  is,  that  even  in  the  regenerate 
Original  Sin  remains,  although  its  Stain  is  blotted  out,  its  Guilt  removed. 
This  the  Church  holds  in  opposition  to  the  Romanist  doctrine,  that  by  regene- 
ration, all  men  are  put  again  in  the  same  position  as  Adam  was  in  Paradise. 
Query— if  ao,  why  then  do  the  baptized  die? 


THE  HKABT  OR  AFFECTIONS.  251 

by  this  very  thing,  if  he  is  young,  is  likely  to  be  seduced  into  vice 
— -if  he  be  a  religious  man,  he  is  one  who  has  a  tendency  to  sen- 
suality, and  is  coarse,  and  hard-minded,  and  unaffectionate.  But 
he  who  takes  the  other  view,  and  reverences  the  body  as,  even 
though  fallen,  still  part  of  a  nature  "  made  in  the  image  of  God," 
his  tendencies  shall  be  entirely  the  other  way.  And  as  the  conclu- 
sion of  these  remarks,  I  say  it  is  a  great  moral  principle  and  pre- 
cept, "  Reverence  the  Body,"  a  dictate  which  nature  herself  utters 
with  no  faint  voice,  and  which  revelation  explains  and  elucidates. 

But  this  principle  that  the  "  body  of  man,  although  fallen  from 
its  original  state,  and  so  infected  with  the  weaknesses  that  we 
have  specified,  is  still  not  a  body  the  same  as  those  of  the  beasts, 
but  something  altogether  different ;"  as  the  Apostle  says,  "there 
is  one  flesh  of  man  and  another  flesh  of  beasts  :"* — this  principle 
we  say,  that  the  Body  is  thus  to  be  reverenced,  we  shall  not  leave 
to  these  proofs  only,  but  we  shall  seek  a  higher  and  loftier  reason, 
one  that  concerns  all  humanity,  and  that  gilds  it  with  exceeding 
and  abundant  glory. 

And  this  is,  that  as  a  fact  and  truth,  the  Eternal  Word,  the  Son 
of  the  Father,  he  who  from  eternity  was  "  the  manifestation  of 
his  glory,  the  express  image  of  his  person,"  "dwelling  in  light 
unapproachable,"  the  Word  who  "was  in  the  beginning,"  and 
"  was  with  God,  and  was  God,"  "  by  whom  all  things  were  made," 
"  in  whom  was  life  and  that  life  the  light  of  men" — "  he  was  made 
flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us." 

This  is  the  grand  and  glorious  truth  that  makes  the  Body  of 
man,  even  as  it  is  fallen  and  imperfect,  a  glory,  not  a  shame  ;  a 
thing  to  be  reverenced  and  respected,  to  be  thought  of  with  honour 
and  tenderness  of  feeling. 

This,  the  fact  that  the  "Everliving  Word"  of  God  assumed  to 
himself  really  and  truly,  a  body,  the  same  as  that  each  of  us 
possesses ;  this  is  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  "  G-od  manifest 
in  the  flesh." 

And  see  !  how  wonderful  it  is.  Here  is  a  babe — new-born,  upon 
its  mother's  knee — and  that  babe,  with  its  undeveloped  mind,  its 
speechless  tongue,  its  soft  and  tender  body,  with  no  knowledge, 
no  experience  ;  this  is  "  God  of  the  whole  earth  !"  its  Maker  and 
King !  "  God  of  God !  light  of  light !  very  God  of  very  God !" 

*  1  Cor.  XV.  39. 


252  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  all  the  natural  feeblenesses,  and  weaknesses,  and  miseries,  and 
distresses  of  childhood — these  are  his  !  God,  born  a  child !  and 
the  Natural  Body, — this  he  has  assumed  and  bears  ! 

The  Body  of  the  child,  the  Animal  Mind,  the  Spirit — all  these 
God  the  Word  has  assumed !  and  unto  them  inseparably  and  eter- 
nally he  is  united  !  This  is  a  great  wonder. 

And  surely  that  Body,  that  Soul,  those  Mental  Powers, 
made  originally  in  God's  image,  and  which  God  assumed,  these 
cannot  be  in  themselves  essentially  evil ;  they  must  be  good — 
"  good,  though  fallen."  The  Body  which  the  Eternal  Word 
assumed,  this  is  not  to  be  scorned,  or  despised,  or  looked  upon  as 
brutish,  but  held  in  all  reverence. 

But  more  than  this  :  the  Word  assumed  it  not  as  perfect ;  all 
its  weaknesses,  and  deficiencies,  and  liabilities  to  temptation  were 
still  in  the  Redeemer's  Body, — in  the  Body  of  "  God,  who  shed  for 
us  his  blood,"  were  all  these  by  which  sin  has  access  to  us.  "  So 
that  he  was  tempted  in  all  things  as  we,  onli/  without  sin  ;"*  and 
until  he  had  passed  through  the  resurrection  gate  of  the  grave,  it  to 
him  was  a  "  Natural  body,"  or  a  "  Terrestrial"  body.  And  thus 
remaining  in  substance  the  same,  the  dross  being  cleansed  away, 
the  weakness  having  vanished,  it  became  the  Spiritual  and  Celes- 
tial body. 

So  that  unto  a  body  having  in  nature  but  not  in  effects  the  same 
feebleness,  deficiency,  weaknesses  that  our  body  has,  was  the  Word 
of  God  united.  Our  Bodies,  then,  we  should  not  despise,  or  think 
brutally  of  for  this  natural  weakness,  but  rather  tenderly,  since 
Christ  passed  through  this  life  in  a  body  that  had  the  same  weak- 
nesses. 

Again :  that  body  that  he  assumed  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  his 
mother,  this  same  flesh  that  was  born  of  her  was  weak  and  mor- 
tal; suffered,  and  died  and  was  buried;  this  body  of  the  same 
humanity  as  mine,  of  the  same  blood,  the  same  flesh,  the  same 
bones ;  this  rose  with  the  Word  from  the  grave,  a  Glorified, 
Heavenly,  Spiritual  Body,  never  dying  and  perfect,  and  yet  the 
same  that  was  horn  of  the  Virgin.  And  this  Human  Nature  is 
thenceforth  one  with  God  the  Word,  two  natures,!  Cr^d  and  Man 

*  Ho  had  neither  at  birth  Original  Sin,  nor  during  life  Actual  Sin. 
t  This  is  called  the  Hypostatical  or  Substantial  Union  of  the  two  Natures 
in  one  Christ  forever. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  253 

forever  joined  and  forming  one  Christ,  seated  upon  the  right  hand 
of  the  glory  of  God,  upon  the  eternal  throne  of  heaven. 

Thou  that  wouldst  despise  the  body,  look  to  this ; — the  "  body," 
the  "mind,"  the  Spirit  of  Man, — Human  Nature, — a  true  man, 
and  at  the  same  time  God  the  Word,  is  seated  upon  the  throne  of 
Omnipotence !  Man  is  almighty,  omniscient,  eternal,  immortal ! 
The  Body  of  Man,  the  same  as  this  my  body,  the  same  Flesh  and 
the  same  Blood  is  exalted  into  heaven,  there  to  sit  for  evermore 
upon  the  right  hand  of  God. 

Should  I  not,  therefore,  reverence  this  my  body,  seeing  that 
there,  in  the  -council  chamber  of  Omnipotence,  in  the  most  inmost 
shrine  of  the  Presence,,  upon  the  most  shining  throne  of  glory,  in 
the  central  light  and  unapproachable  depths  of  God's  splendor, 
there  is  united  to  the  Word  for  ever,  the  Body  born  in  Bethlehem, 
laid  in  the  manger,  the  Human  Body,  that  suffered  and  died,  was 
buried  and  rose  again  ? 

Great,  truly,  is  the  glory  to  me  and  to  my  Body  that  this  is  so. 
And,  therefore,  with  all  reverence  and  respect  shall  I  look  upon 
the  "  Body  of  man"  even  as  it  is,  beset  with  the  effects  of  Original 
Sin.  To  others  I  shall  leave  the  pagan  dreams  of  scorn  and  con- 
tempt for  this  our  earthly  frame.  And  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  these 
I  shall  look  at  as  no  carcases,*  no  cadavres,t  but  as  holy  and  sacred ; 
shrines  from  which  the  spirit  has  departed  again  to  return ; 
dwellings,  that  by  their  frame-work  and  fashioning,  were  made 
after  His  own  image,  fitted  in  their  nature  to  receive  and  be  for- 
ever the  dwelling  of  the  sanctified  spirit. 

This  is  the  Christian  feeling  of  reverence  to  the  body.  And 
because  of  this  thought  of  a  human  frame  made  perfect  and  seated 
upon  the  throne  of  God, — because  of  this  thought  is  it  that  the 
aspect  of  the  grave  has  changed  from  dreary  and  blank  despair 
to  the  calmness  of  a  living  hope.  Because  of  this  it  is  that  instead 
of  casting  out  our  dead  to  the  birds  and  the  beasts,  instead  of 
giving  them  up  to  the  devouring  flame,  or  of  exposing  them  to  the 
wasting  elements  as  the  carcases  (caro  casa)  of  dead  beasts ;  with 
all  reverence  and  tenderness  we  wash  them  free  from  all  pollu- 
tions ;  we  dress  them  in  the  pure  raiment  of  death ;  we  weep  over 
them ;  we  shield  them  even  from  the  too  rude  contact  of  the  earth, 
and  we  commit  them  to  her  bosom  in  peace  and  in  hope. 
*  Carcase — caro  casa — flesh  fallen,  or  cast  away, 
t  Cadavre  (French)  Caro,  data,  vermibus, — flesh,  food  for  •wonns. 


254  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. -.-'> 

These  are,  as  respects  the  Body,  the  effects  upon  our  morals  of 
the  fact  of  the  Incarnation, — the  fact  that  the  Word  of  God  was 
made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  is  now,  together  with  that 
Human  Nature  which  he  took  of  his  mother,  seated  on  the  right 
hand  of  God.  And  therefore  should  man  reverence  his  Body,  and 
neither  scorn  nor  despise  it,  but  even  in  its  weakness  count  it  not 
evil,  but  good,  although  injured  by  Original  Sin. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  nature  of  man  has,  1st,  a  capacity  of  life  through  the  Word  Incarnate ; 
2d,  of  receiving  His  Body  and  Blood ;  3d,  of  the  Indwelling  of  the  Spirit. 
Love  is  the  highest  Christian  state. — The  Eucharist  is  hence  a  school  of 
"Works  and  Love. 

The  great  fact  with  which  we  closed  our  last  chapter,  while  it 
fully  manifests  the  truth,  that  the  body  of  man  is  not  of  the  same 
kind  as  the  body  of  the  beasts,  but  an  organization  wholly  different 
in  its  nature,  inasmuch  as  it  could  be  united  with  the  Word  of 
God ;  and  these  two  natures,  the  Human  and  Divine,  become  and 
he  eternally  one  Christ ;  while  it  shows  this  as  a  fact,  it  enables 
us,  upon  the  strength  of  that  fact,  to  proceed  still  further. 

Can  the  Word,  eternally  begotten  of  the  Father,  assume  the 
flesh  of  man  ?  It  can  be  so.  Then  as  made  of  God,  that  Human 
Nature  had,  by  its  constitution,  as  of  God  created,  this  capacity 
of  union  with  the  Word, — a  capacity  no  other  created  being  has. 
This  is  a  quality  of  man's  nature  which  is  not  manifested  by  mere 
organization,  and  yet  which  evidently  exists  and  distinguishes 
clearly  between  his  body  and  that  of  the  beasts. 

Human  Nature,  then,  has  the  capacity  in  it  of  eternally  being 
in  Christ  upon  the  throne  of  God  as  God.  It  must,  then,  have  a 
capability  of  Life  everlasting  through  him.  There  must  be  in  our 
nature  secretly,  and  it  may  be  unconsciously  to  us,  a  capability  and 
a  power  of  having  His  Life  dwelling  in  us.  There  must  be  in 
nature  as  it  is,  the  power  whereby  the  same  Holy  Ghost  that  in 
Christ  united  the  Word  with  Human  Nature,  so  that  both  should 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  255 

be  one  eternally,  can  implant  in  our  human  nature,  that  is,  in 
our  body,  our  soul,  and  our  spirit,  the  Life  of  the  Eternal  Word. 
For  if  the  Human  Nature,  as  created  in  His  Image,  had  the 
capacity  of  being  united  with  the  Word,  so  as  to  be  one  Christ,  then 
has  it  of  the  same  constitution  the  capability  of  receiving  the  Life 
that  comes  from  the  Word  only.  And  so  of  being  of  Him  new  born 
through  the  same  Spirit,  so  that  the  man  shall  become  a  "member  of 
Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 
Hence  also,  it  has  the  capacity  that  it  should  receive  of  the  "  Body 
and  Blood"  of  Christ  our  Lord.  For  that  Humanity  which  he 
assumed  here  upon  earth, — ^which  was  born,  "suffered,"  "died," 
and  was  "  buried,"  and  all  this  being  "  corporeal,"  "earthly,"  "  na- 
tural," "fleshly,"  "rose  again,"  being  then  "spiritual,"  heavenly, 
perfect.  For  it  is  most  distinctly  the  doctrine  of  holy  writ  that  the 
body,  after  the  resurrection,  remains  the  same  and  identical  as  to 
its  actual  being  ;  but  all  imperfection  and  incompleteness  is  then 
done  away.  For  the  Natural  body  is  changed  into  the  Spiritual 
body,  the  corruptible  into  the  incorruptible,  the  earthly  into  the 
celestial, — not  losing  its  identity,  but  casting  off  its  imperfections. 
And  the  body  of  our  Lord  having  been,  until  his  burial,  a  Natural 
body,  as  ours,  (save  only  in  sin,)  at  his  Resurrection  was  changed, 
even  as  ours  shall  be  through  Him.  It  became  a  Spiritual  and 
glorious  body  from  having  been  a  Natural  body, — its  qualities 
being  changed,  yet  did  it  still  remain  the  same  in  being  that  he 
bore  on  earth, — nay,  even  the  same  that  was  born  in  the  manger 
at  Bethlehem.  God-man  on  Earth,  even  while  yet  a  speechless 
and  feeble  babe  on  his  mother's  knee  !  God-man  in  Heaven, 
seated  upon  the  throne  of  power  !  Great,  truly,  is  the  mystery  of 
godliness,  that  God  should  be  born  of  a  woman  and  shed  his  blood 
and  die  for  us  here  on  earth  !  Greater  still  its  crowning  glory, 
that  Man  should  take  his  seat  upon  the  throne  of  the  universe ! 
forever  to  be  worshipped !  forever  to  reign  as  God  !  And  thus  the 
Word  and  the  Human  Nature,  united  in  one  Person,  are  at  the 
head  and  on  the  throne  of  all  being. 

And  the  Human  Nature  of  the  Word,  as  far  at  least  as  his  Body 
and  Blood  are  concerned,  this  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  can  we,  having 
fait\  receive  as  the  food  and  supply  of  the  Life  of  Christ  in  us. 
For  the  very  fact  that  Human  Nature  in  Christ  is  capable  of  being 
united  with  the  Word,  and  being  invested  with  all  the  attributes 
of  God,  this  proves  that  Nature  to  be  capable  of  bending  down 


256  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

from  its  eternal  throne  and  giving  itself  as  the  food  and  supply  of 
the  Life  to  its  kindred  nature  in  us  here  upon  the  earth. 

Only  grant  the  great  central  fact  that  "Man  is  God,"  and  no 
Time,  no  Space,  shall  prevent  "omnipotence,"  omniscience  united' 
with  Humanity  forever,  from  conferring  upon  us,  really  and  truly, 
the  gift  of  his  Body  and  his  Blood,  not  in  jBgure,  not  in  metaphor, 
but  actually,  really,  and  truly,  and  by  means  which,  while  they  are 
not  themselves  the  "Body"  and  the  "Blood,"  are  means  oi  its 
being  most  certainly  conferred.  Think  upon  the  great  fact  that 
Human  Nature  could  be  joined  unto  the  Word, — and  Human  Na- 
ture can,  by  virtue  of  this  capacity,  receive  that  gift  of  the  perfect 
and  glory-crowned  "  Body  and  Blood,"  that  now  sits  upon  the 
throne  of  eternity,  and  be  fed  and  cherished  by  it  in  body,  soul, 
and  spirit.  No  figure  this  is  of  an  absent  body,  no  metaphor, 
save  the  Incarnation  of  the  Word  be  a  metaphor,  and  his  con- 
ception of  the  Holy  Ghost  a  metaphor. 

But  if  the  Human  Nature  is  eternally  united  with  the  Word,  so 
that  a  real  man,  one  who  has,  as  I  have,  a  body,  a  soul,  and  a 
spirit,  is  seated  on  God's  throne,  and  is  God, — then  this  capacity 
exists  in  him  to  give  to  me  in  whom,  by  spiritual  regeneration,  is 
His  Life,  his  glorified,  spiritual,  heavenly  "Body  and  Blood,"  as 
food  and  nutriment  of  that  His  Life  in  me.  Then  in  me  exists, 
by  my  "creation  in  his  image,"  and  the  suitableness  of  my  very 
nature,  the  capacity  of  receiving  that  true  gift  of  his  real  Body 
and  Blood. 

But  if  "God"  and  Man  are  not  truly  united,  the  two  Natures 
in  one  Christ  eternally, — then  this  union  is  but  a  figure,  a  meta- 
phor ;  and  the  reception  of  the  Body  and  Blood  is  only  a  figure 
and  a  metaphor  ;  and  the  frame  and  nature  of  man  is  as  the  frame 
and  nature  of  the  beasts,  flesh  made  to  live  and  then  to  perish ; 
but  having  in  it  no  capacity  of  the  divine  nature,*  no  capacity 
of  a  Spiritual  Life,  or  of  spiritual  support  to  it. 

But  it  is  not  so.  We  can,  by  our  nature,  receive  this  heavenly 
food.  The  capacity  is  in  us  ;  because  our  very  "  flesh  and  blood," 
the  Humanity  of  Man  united  with  the  Eternal  Word,  is  God  eter- 
nally ;  and  because  of  this  that  we  are  created  "  in  His  image." 
For  these  reasons  we  can  receive  actually,  really,  and  truly  His 
Body  and  His  Blood. 

*  "  Wherefore  unto  us  are  given  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises, 
that  by  them  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature."    2  Peter,  i.  4. 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  257 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  *real  presence,  wnich  may  thus 
be  seen,  not  onlj  to  be  plainly  declared  in  the  Scripture,  uni- 
versally upheld  by  the  Ancient  Church,  the  manifest  and  evi- 
dent opinion  of  the  Churches  of  England,  and  of  America  in  their 
standards,  but  also  to  be  the  highest  reach  and  pinnacle  of  the 
philosophy  of  Christianity,  the  doctrine  which  unites  earth  mth 
heaven ;  and  frail  and  feeble,  weak  and  afflicted  as  my  human 
Nature  may  be  in  body,  in  soul,  and  in  spirit,  yet  binds  me  to 
the  Humanity  that  now  is  seated  upon  the  throne  of  eternity,  and 
tells  me,  "as  he  is,  so  shall  I  be  also." 

We  see,  moreover,  from  this  also  the  capacity  existing  in  us, 
our  "Body,"  our  "  Soul,"  and  our  Spirit,  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God,  should,  as  in  a  temple,  dwell  in  us  actually  and  really,  as 
much  as  "  Jehovah"  of  old  by  the  Shekinah  dwelt  in  the  material 
temple  of  human  building,  in  the  glory  that  rested  between  the 
Golden  Cherubims  over  the  Mercy  Seat.  So  it  is  possible  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  should  dwell  in  this  material  temple  of  our  Body,  made 
in  God's  image  originally,  as  he  does  also  in  the  Humanity  of  our 
Lord,  which  is  by  him  united  with  the  Word  forever.  So  that  as 
our  Soul,  a  limited  Spirit,  can  dwell  in  our  body,  so  can  the  Infi- 
nite Spirit  indwell  in  the  same  Humanity  to  them  born  of  Christ, 
through  his  regenerating  power, — and  by  an  immediate  influence, 
uphold  the  body,  the  soul,  and  the  spirit,  through  his  Grace.  So 
it  is  that  through  "  ^hrist  in  him  and  strengthening  him," 'the 

*  I  would  have  my  readers  notice,  that  while  we  believe  in  a  real  presence 
it  is,  first, — spiritual,  as  not  local  nor  corporeal,  but  of  the  Spiritual  Body^ 
which  is  free  from  the  bonds  of  Time  and  Space.  Secondly, — It  is  spiritual  aa  it 
is  conferred  upon  us  by  the  gift  and  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  same 
God  who  is  the  Giver  of  Life, — he  gives  us  this  Grace  to  maintain  that  Life. 
Thus  the  Sacrament  is  a  real  means  of  Grace.  Thirdly, — It  is  spiritual  as 
received  in  us  by  Faith,  one  of  the  highest  operations  of  the  spiritual  being 
in  man.  This,  with  what  I  have  said  in  the  text,  distinguishes  the  Church 
doctrine  from  the  Romish  figment  of  Transubstantiation. 

One  word  more.  This  doctrine  is  one  easily  misrepresented,  easily  misun* 
derstood.  We  have  in  our  Services,  our  Catechism,  our  Articles,  a  most  com- 
plete and  "perfect  system  upon  it.  To  those,  then,  who  think  they  see  incon- 
sistencies, I  would  give  this  advice,  let  them  wait  a  little  before  they  speak 
— let  them  in  silence  use  the  Prayer-hook  practically,  and  the  Holy  Eucharist 
practically,  and  they  may  grow  up  to  the  measure  of  this  doctrine, — they  may 
see  that  the  inconsistency  is  in  their  own  fragmentary  notions,  not  in  the 
Prayer-book. 

33 


258  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Christian  man  can  do  all  things,  and  yet  of  himself,  of  Ms  own 
power,  of  Ids  own  ability,  nothing, — but  all  things  through  Cirace. 

These  are  then  facts,  first,  that  Human  Nature,  a  man  as  we 
are,  with  a  real  body,  a  real  soul,  and  a  real  spirit,  as  mine  is,  is 
now  and  for  ever  God. 

Secondly,  That  from  this  fact  comes  the  truth  of  our  nature's 
capacity  for  a  new  Life  and  birth  derived  from  him  our  risen 
Lord,  a  spiritual  birth  of  the  whole  nature,  the  body,  soul  and 
spirit.  And  that  this  birth  takes  place  in  us  through  the  Word, 
and  by  the  agency  of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Thirdly,  That  this  Eternal  Spirit  and  the  Eternal  Word  Incar- 
nate, the  one  can  and  does  feed  the  flame  of  life  in  us,  with  the 
peculiar  gift  of  his  Body  and  his  Blood ;  and  the  other  "  dwells 
in  us  richly,"  in  our  bodies,  our  souls,  and  our  spirits,  with  Grace 
and  strength. 

These,  then,  are  plain  facts  of  the  Gospel,  for  those  that  have 
been  redeemed  by  Christ's  blood,  and  having  true  faith  in  that 
atoning  blood,  and  true  repentance,  have  been  "  baptized  in  His 
name  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  and  have  so  been  "  born  anew  of 
water  and  the  Spirit." 

How  high,  then,  can  the  Affections  of  the  Human  Race  ascend  ? 
So  high  by  nature  and  natural  capacity  that  Humanity  joined  with 
Deity  as  one  Christ  is  God ;  so  high  as  this, — our  Lord,  ever  blessed, 
yet  still  a  real  and  true  man  in  all  things  that  appertain  to  Human 
Hature, — he  is  God,  with  all  the  feelings,  all  the  emotions,  all  the 
affections  of  the  heart  that  belong  to  our  common  Humanity. 
Love,  joy,  sympathy,  pity,  hope,  all  the  emotions  whereby  man  in 
Society  is  by  his  Heart  carried  on  towards  the  good  of  his  fellow- 
man,  and  made  to  rejoice  in  it — all  these  belong  for  ever  to 
God  the  Word  Incarnate.  So  that  Compassion  is  almighty  and 
all-seeing,  and  "Pity"  ever-present,  and  "Sympathy"  omnis- 
cient, and  "Love"  is  crowned  with  the  diadem  of  Eternity,  clothed 
with  the  royal  robe  of  infinite  power,  gifted  with  the  sceptre  of 
omnipotence.  And  the  same  Heart  that  upon  earth  overflowed 
with  all  emotions  of  gentleness,  and  compassion,  and  kindly  feeling 
towards  man,  that  same  Heart  has  become  of  the  same  emotions 
an  infinite  fountain  towards  man,  gushing  forth  from  the  central 
throne  of  God. 

Well  might  men  feel  that  the  highest  summit  of  Humanity  is 
the  Affections ;  that  this,  if  it  cannot  reach  to  Heaven,  at  least 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  269 

can  rise  towards  it,  and  catch  the  beams  of  its  light,  while  all 
beneath  is  sleeping  in  darkness.  Well  might  all  men  put  so  great 
a  value  upon  the  Heart  above  the  loftiest  powers  of  Reason,  when 
the  Human  Heart  reaches  its  full  glory  in  the  one  Incarnate  God, 
risen  from  the  grave  and  ascended  into  heaven.  ' 

Think  not,  my  reader,  and  I  hope  my  disciple,  of  station  in  this  * 
world ;  of  poverty,  or  of  wealth,  of  mental  ability  or  mental 
power ;  for  deficient  in  all  these,  thou  hast  a  loftier  and  a  nobler 
gift  and  endowment  in  the  Heart.  One  internal  struggle,  to  cleanse 
thy  mind  from  Selfishness — one  inward  strife,  to  cast  away  Self- 
will,  and  bow  to  the  Will  of  God — one  effort,  to  purify  the  Heart 
from  Sensuality — one  emotion  of  pity  towards  thy  fellow-man, — 
this,  through  Christ's  power  and  in  Christ's  name,  is  worth  all 
these  other  matters  and  possessions  of  visible  attainment,  and 
shall  outlast  them  all,  and  in  the  balance  of  Eternity  and  the 
judgment  of  heaven's  King  outweigh  them  all. 

This  thought  of  the  man  Christ  with  the  heart  of  a  man  reign- 
ing for  us  in  almighty  and  eternal  power,  this  is  that  which  inspired 
the  holy  apostle,  Paul,  with  that  divine  Hymn  of  his  upon  "Love," 
which  more  than  any  passage  in  the  Scriptures  seems  a  melody 
from  the  tongue  of  Heaven,  translated  into  the  language  of 
earth. 

"  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongue  of  men  and  angels,  and  have 
not  '  love,'*  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal ; 
and  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophesy,  and  understand  all  myste- 
ries, and  all  knowledge ;  and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I 
could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not  love,  I  am  nothing ;  and 
and  though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I 
give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  love,  it  profiteth  me 
nothing.  Love  suffereth  long,  and  is  kind ;  love  envieth  not ;  love 
vaunteth  not  itself;  is  not  puffed  up ;  doth  not  behave  itself 
unseemly ;  seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh 
no  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth  ;  bear- 
eth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things.  Love  never  faileth :  but  whether  there  be  prophesies,  they 
shall  fail ;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease ;  whether 

*  'cvyatt^,  in  the  ori^nal,  means  "love,"  literally,  and  cannot  mean  "charity," 
in  any  sense  that  the  word  now  bears  in  the  English  language.  So  translated, 
in  fact,  it  is  perfectly  meaningless. 


260  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away :  for  we  know  in  part, 
and  we  prophesy  in  part,  but  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come, 
then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away." 

"When  I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child, 
I  thought  as  a  child;  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away  child- 
ish things.  For  now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face 
to  face,  now  I  know  in  part,  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I 
am  known  ;  and  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  love,  these  three,  but  the 
greatest  of  these  is  love. 

The  same  feeling  is  manifested  also  in  St.  John  the  Divine. 
In  him  manifestly  the  highest  and  loftiest  feeling  is  of  the  affec- 
tion of  Love  made  perfect  in  Christ  upon  the  throne,  and  love 
made  perfect  in  us  in  this  world  through  Christ.  In  him  that 
feeling  constantly  exists  that  is  seen  in  St.  Paul.  "  My  little 
children,"  he  says,  "Let  us  not  love  in  word,  neither  in  tongue, 
but  in  deed  and  truth." 

And  history  tells  us  that  this  the  Apostle,  "  beloved  of  Christ," 
when  in  the  infirmity  of  many  years,  he  was,  in  Ephesus,  carried 
into  his  church,  and  could,  from  feebleness  of  mind  and  feebleness 
of  body  say  no  more,  he  said  this,  "let  us  love  one  another,"  and 
when  they  asked  him  to  say  more,  he  said,  "  in  Christ  this  is  all." 

This,  then,  is  our  practical  conclusion.  The  "  Heart  or  the 
Affections,"  is  the  highest  of  all  the  Spiritual  powers.  In  and 
through  Christ  only  can  it  attain  that  perfection  of  which  in  us  it 
is  capable,  and  this  is  a  state  higher  than  Faith,  higher  than 
Hope;  so  that  he  may  have  faith  who  has  not  "  Love  ;"  he  may 
have  faith  and  moreover  hope,  and  yet  not  reach  to  this  ; — and  that 
this  state,  the  state  of  Love,  wherein  the  heart  is  changed,  so  that 
its  affections  are  sanctified  and  made  perfect,  this  is  the  highest 
Christian  state  that  man  can  reach  upon  earth, — the  state  in 
Christianity  that  answers  to  the  whole  spiritual  power  of  nature 
and  brings  it  all  to  perfection. 

And  when,  in  some  further  advance  of  the  Church  in  Holiness 
and  Sanctification  of  Heart,  it  comes  to  be  asked  by  men  of  faith 
and  zeal,  "  how  and  by  what  discipline  of  the  Church  shall  we  so 
cultivate  our  Hearts,  that  towards  our  fellow-men  they  shall  be 
actuated  by  complete  and  perfect  Love,  according  to  the  capa- 
bilities of  the  nature  of  each?" — then  may  it  come  to  pass,  that 
men  shall  be  enabled  to  see  that  in  the  glorified  Humanity  of 
Christ  our  Lord,  there  is  the  perfection  of  Love,  and  the  Human 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  261 

affections  complete  and  perfect.  Thus  may  they  see,  that  of  that 
Humanity,  that  Body  and  Blood,  the  Holy  Spirit  can  make  the 
faithful  participate.  They  may  then  discern,  that  in  our  body, 
our  soul,  and  our  spirit,  which  are  his,  that  His  Spirit  may  eternally 
abide,  as  in  his  temple,  as  a  supply  of  all  deficiencies, — a  help 
against  all  weaknesses — an  indwelling  strength  and  power  not  ofua 
but  in  us.  And  while  by  no  means  they  neglect  exhortations, 
prayers,  and  sermons,  yet  seeing  these  things  with  the  eye  of 
faith,  they  may  act  practically  upon  their  convictions,  and  go 
back  to  the  old  universal  Christian  custom,  that  the  communion 
should  be  a  stated  and  systematic  part  of  the  worship  of  every 
Lord's  day. 

When  this  comes  to  pass,  then  shall  be  seen  that  which  was  seen 
of  old,  that  the  sanctifying  and  humanizing  effect  of  Christianity 
exerts  itself  mainly  upon  the  individual  man,  through  the  secret 
influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  very  directly  and  manifestly  through 
the  sacrament  of  his  Body  and  Blood. 

And,  then,  the  Communion,  instead  of  being  a  meeting  for  inci- 
dental and  uncustomary  purposes,  shall  be  a  Society,  organized 
not  of  man,  but  of  God,  having  each  week  its  regular  and  stated 
meetings,  a  Society  of  "Faith"  and  "Works,"  of  "Mercy  and 
Love." 

The  effect  of  which,  upon  the  individual's  heart,  shall  be,  that  it 
will  train  him  gradually  and  unconsciously,  yet  most  surely,  so 
that  his  Faith  shall  mature  into  Hope,  and  Hope  be  succeeded  by 
the  full  ripeness  of  Christian  Love.  And  holiness  and  sanctifica- 
tion  of  Heart,  shall  be  once  more  a  general  attribute  belonging  to 
all  Christians  in  the  Church,  and  by  its  tenderness  of  feeling  and 
freedom  from  all  ordinary  faults  of  the  Heart,  distinguishing 
them  from  common  professors  of  Christianity. 

This  would  manifestly,  from  the  principles  above  discussed,  in 
relation  to  us,  be  the  natural  result  of  such  a  discipline,  habitual, 
and  used  not  as  a  thing  extraordinary,  which  there  was  some 
peculiar  merit  and  effect  in  adopting,  but,  as  a  matter  of  course^  in 
the  ordinary  quiet  routine  of  things. 

For  we  cannot  disguise  it  from  ourselves,  that  in  thiese  our  days, 
even  the  best  motives  and  the  best  measures  are  often  adopted  and 
advocated  by  presumptuous  and  overweening  self-will,  and  the 
holiest  polluted  by  party,  and  the  noblest  and  the  loftiest  lowered 
by  presumption.     So  that  that  which  carried  out  quietly^  infaithy 


262     .  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

hy  the  individual,  would  have  been  of  great  use,  being  made  "  his 
great  idea''  of  which  "he  is  the  great  advocate,"  comes  to  be  oflfen- 
sive  to  all  well  judging  men. 

For  this  reason  was  it  that  we  said  that  the  Holy  Eucharist,  used 
weekly,  would  have  such  an  effect  upon  the  Christian  holiness  of  the 
individual  man,  when  it  comes  to  be  used  as  a  matter  of  habitual 
discipline,  iand  not  as  a  thing  extraordinary,  which  there  is  some 
peculiar  merit  and  effect  in  adopting,  but  as  a  matter  of  course  in 
the  ordinary  routine  of  things. 

With  the  exception  implied  in  these  words,  we  believe  the  effect 
would  be  from  the  principles  we  have  laid  down,  the  training  of 
all  Christians  onward  towards  that  higher  state  the  apostle  calls 
"Love,"  instead  of  its  being  the  attainment  of  only  one  or  two 
here  and  there,  as  it  is  at  present ;  and  the  rest  being  left  as  they 
are  in  the  first  and  initial  state  merely  of  Christianity,  the  imper- 
fection of  a  crude  and  unripened  faith. 

So  should  this  be  for  each  man  baptized  into  Christ  a  school, 
in  which  Faith  would  be  transformed  to  Hope,  and  Hope  to  Love ; 
and  thus  his  Heart  be  filled  with  the  fullness  of  Christ,  and  hia 
affections  have  to  all  men  that  sweet  and  saintly  character  which 
they  only  possess  who  are  made  "  perfect  in  Love." 

Again :  I  look  upon  this  practice  to  be  a  school  of  Works  of 
Mercy,  so  gi*eat  and  so  efficient,  that  upon  the  general  practice  of 
the  Holy  Communion  Weekly,  I  place  my  hopes  for  the  decision 
practically  of  a  question  which  theoretically  has  been  the  cause 
of  many  disputes,  the  union  of  Faith  with  Work^,  in  the  great 
work  of  our  salvation. 

I  believe  that  no  sooner  would  the  Church  have  returned  to  that 
practi-ce  of  "Weekly  Communion,"  as  a,n  usual  and  customary 
thing,  than  the  feeling  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  enjoyed  that 
privilege,  would  arise  to  the  practical  fruits  of  mercy — the  clothing 
of  the  poor,  the  feeding  of  the  hungry,  the  Christian  education  of 
youth,  the  support  of  Missions.  All  these  things  would  be  effected 
by  as  natural  a  process  as  is  the  produce  of  the  f"uit  from  the 
flower;  not  under  stimulus,  not  under  excitement  by  means  of 
eloquent  addresses,  or  as  something  greatly  and  meritoriously 
done,  but  as  the  unboasted  and  usual  duty  of  all  Christians. 

Let  the  Weekly  Communion  come  in  every  Church,  then  by  the 
very  nature  of  its  effects  upon  the  Heart,  when  it  is  so  established 
as  to  be  customary  and  of  the  usual  routine, — ^by  the  nature 


THE  HEART  OR  AFFECTIONS.  263 

of  man's  Heart  naturally, — ^by  the  nature  of  that  Heart  as  sanc- 
tified,— by  the  nature  of  Christ  our  Lord,  the  God-man,  with  a 
Heart  human  as  ours  is, — by  the  nature  of  his  Church  as  giving 
to  those  who  have  faith,  his  "  Body  and  his  Blood," — by  all  these 
it  shall  be,  that  when  this  takes  place,  that  as  of  old,  the  members 
of  his  Church  come  each  Lord's  day  to  the  Communion  of  His 
Body  and  His  Blood,  then  shall  feelings  of  Faith  be  poured  out 
in  works  of  Mercy,  Almsgiving  and  Love,  and  no  appeal,  no  vehe- 
ment exhortation  shall  be  needful,  but  the  stream  of  Christian 
benevolence  shall  flow  from  motives  purely  Christian,  fed  instru- 
mentally  by  that  ordinance  from  week  to  week,  which  the  most 
raises  in  our  heart  the  feeUngs  that  are  Christ-like  towards  God 
our  Father  in  heaven,  and  our  brethren  here  upon  earth. 

And  both  these  eflFects  the  Ancient  Church  experienced  through 
her  Weekly  Communion  and  her  Weekly  Offertory,  which  went 
along  with  it.  For  during  four  hundred  years  the  Communion 
was  weekly  in  all  Churches,  and  there  never  was  a  Communion 
without  an  Offertory,  nor  an  Offertory  without  a  Communion; 
and  this  with  Oblations  given  according  to  each  one's  pleasure, 
was  her  sole  revenue. 

And  with  these  free-will  offerings  of  the  people,  and  the  obla- 
tions at  the  altars,  so  abundant  was  that  spring  of  systematic 
and  principled  liberality.  Ancient  Christianity  supported  all  her 
Clergy,  all  her  poor,  and  all  her  schools ;  and  never  was  there  a 
state  in  which  Holiness,  and  Sanctification,  and  the  perfection  of 
Love  was  more  prevalent.  Such,  until  the  fifth  century,  when 
Christianity  was  endowed  by  the  State,  and  therefore  more  or  less 
corrupted  by  it,  was  the  influence  of  the  "Weekly  Eucharist" 
upon  Christian  Faith  and  Christian  Works. 

And  again :  the  same  cause  can  produce  the  same  effects, — ripe- 
ness of  Christian  character  and  fullness  of  Christian  benevolence 
in  us,  the  first  Apostolic  Church  that  is  free  altogether  from  the 
fetters  of  the  State. 

I  make  no  apologies  for  introducing  the  subject  I  have  examined 
in  the  last  few  pages.  Treating  as  I  am  upon  the  Affections,  it 
was  necessary  to  see  in  what  living  man  the  affections  reached  unto 
their  highest  perfection,  and  this  I  found  in  Christ  our  Lord,  and 
in  the  fact  of  his  Humanity  still  possessed  by  him  in  heaven. 

Hence  the  humanizing  influence  of  His  Religion  upon  the  Heart. 
Hence,  too,  that  highest  state  of  the  Christian,  the  state  of  Love. 


264  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Hence,  too,  the  influence  of  the  Eucharist  upon  the  Heart,  as 
nutriment  of  the  Christ-like  Affections.  Hence  the  effect  of  the 
habitual  use  of  this  Holy  Sacrament  in  producing  to  their  perfec- 
tion Faith  and  Works,  hand  in  hand. 

These  are  questions  and  resolutions  of  Morality  and  Ethics  of 
the  highest  importance.  And  these  I  have  thought  myself  bound 
to  enter  upon  and  examine  at  length, — ^for  surely  the  questions, 
"What  is  that  which  most  humanizes  the  Heart  of  man?"  "What 
discipline  in  the  Church  is  thereunto  most  eflBcient  and  most 
useful?"  and  "How  shall  Faith  be  perfected  into  Love,  and  true 
works  of  Love  and  Mercy  be  done  spontaneously?"  These  are 
high  and  lofty  questions  of  Christian  Science. 

And  all  spring  from  the  one  great  fact  of  "  God  in  our  flesh 
and  our  blood,"  God,  our  brother,  in  this  flesh /orever, — and  thus 
as  Man,  eternally  seated  upon  the  throne  of  power. 

And  although  in  this  age,  plunged  in  selfish  ambition  and  the 
pursuit  of  pleasure,  th^se  things  may  be  thought  strange  deduc- 
tions, yet  the  time  shall  come  when  universally  it  shall  be  a  prac- 
tice in  the  Church  that  all  shall  come  weekly*  to  the  Communion. 
And  then  it  shall  be  visible  and  manifest,  as  it  was  of  old,  that 
the  sacraments,  especially  the  Eucharist,  are,  by  their  relation  to 
the  nature  of  man,  peculiarly  suited  and  adapted  to  work  upon 
that  portion  of  our  spiritual  being  that  we  call  the  "  Heart,"  and 
to  ripen  Faith  into  Love,  and  cause  true  Works  of  Mercy  and 
Benevolence  to  be  done  in  Faith,  through  Love. 

With  this  we  end  this  Book,  and  in  the  next  books  we  shall 
discuss  the  affections  of  the  Home  or  Family,  of  the  Nation  and 
of  the  Church.  The  ensuing  Book  shall  be  occupied  with  those 
of  the  Family. 

*  While  I  am  so  mucli  in  favor  of  the  practice,  I  must  eay  that  the  adoption 
of  it,  on  the  part  of  the  Clergy  as  well  as  of  the  laity,  needs  peculiar  caution, 
les't  we  sin  by  haste  or  by  presumption.  I  would,  therefore,  recommend  the 
careful  perusal  of  "  the  Tracts  upon  the  Weekly  Eucharist,"  by  Dr.  Muhlen- 
burg,  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  New  York. 


BOOK  y. 

THE   HOME  AND  ITS  AFFECTIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Society. — Of  Divine  institution. — Coeval  vrith  Man. — ^Man's  nature  answer- 
ing to  it,  and  it  answering  to  Man's  nature. — The  fiction  of  a  Social  Con- 
tract examined  and  refuted. 

We  have  in  the  foregoing  book  examined  the  Affections  as 
existing  in  the  heart  of  the  individual  man.  "We  have  defined 
them  as  finding  their  ends  in  Persons,  and  these  persons  existing 
in  Society.  We  have  again  and  again  expressed  our  opinion  that 
Society  is  of  a  threefold  organization,  the  Home,  the  Nation, 
the  Church :  that  it  is  a  divine  institution,  and  coeval  with  man, 
an  organization  for  fixed  and  determined  purposes,  and  in  set  and 
determinate  forms.  These  opinions  of  ours  are  familiar,  as  opin- 
ions, to  our  readers. 

We  have  also,  at  different  parts  of  this  book,  as  it  came  up 
according  to  the  subject,  shown  the  uses  of  Society;  that  Society 
in  itself  is  one  grand  school  of  teaching,  divided  into  three, 
■which  teaches  in  the  Family,  Love ;  in  the  Nation,  Justice  and 
Equity ;  in  the  Church,  Holiness.  These  uses  we  have,  at  various 
periods  of  our  work,  illustrated.  The  uses,  however,  manifestly 
are  facts ;  they  could  exist  as  uses  of  Society,  whatsoever  its  origin : 
the  question  now  is  of  its  origin.  Our  opinion  that  we  have 
expressed  is,  that  it  is  of  Divine  Institution,  coeval  and  con- 
genital with  man;  the  organization,  just  as  much  as  the  indi- 
vidual, an  existence  made  of  God  for  set  purposes,  and  in  fixed, 
unchangeable  forms. 

This  it  must  be,  or  else  made  of  and  by  man ;  not  of  divine 
origin,  but  made  by  a  multitude  of  men  consenting  thereunto,  as 
men,  after  an  unanimous  plan,  frame  and  build  a  house. 

34  265 


266  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

There  is  no  alternative — either  Society  is  by  God  intended  for 
the  purposes  that  we  see  it  fulfil,  and  is  of  his  building  ;  or  else 
it  is  made  hy  man  after  his  own  will  j  one  thing  or  the  other  must 
be  true. 

Now  of  this  latter  opinion  there  have  been  in  modern  times 
many  advocates ;  their  theory  is  called  the  "  theory  of  the  Social 
Contract."  It  is,  we  conceive,  in  its  main  features  fairly  repre- 
sented thus : — 

"  There  was  a  time  when  there  was  no  Society,  but  men  were 
in  a  State  of  Nature.  Then  they  came  voluntarily  together,  and 
by  contract  they  constituted  Society.  Hence  that  agreement 
is  called  the  Social  Contract :  and  so  doing  they  each  renounced 
a  portion  of  their  individual  rights,  as  the  price  to  Society  for 
the  securing  of  the  others."  These  three  clauses  will  embrace, 
we  believe,  all  the  elements  of  this  theory. 

We  shall  examine  these  asseverations  one  by  one. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  fact  of  contract,  what  evidence  is  there 
that  this  which  we  call  Society  was  constituted  by  contract  among 
individuals,  who  formerly  not  being  in  society  contracted  to  make 
it,  and  after  it  was  made  were  thenceforth  in  it  ?  What  evidence 
is  there  of  the  contract  which  the  theory  takes  to  be  a  fact  ? 

Of  such  a  fact  there  is  in  existence  neither  record,  witnesses, 
registry,  evidence  of  time,  or  place,  or  any  one  of  those  circum- 
stances which  are  requisite  to  the  proof  of  the  fact  of  contract. 

Let  us  go  back,  and  we  shall  see  there  is  no  evidence  to  the 
effect  that  the  theory  requires.  We  go  back  to  our  American 
Constitution,  established  at  the  Revolution.  We  do  not  see  that 
this  answers  at  all  to  the  "Social  Contract,"  for  the  theory  says 
that  by  that  contract.  Society  was  constituted ;  that  previously 
there  was  no  Society,  but  men  were  in  a  State  of  Nature.  Now 
before  the  American  Revolution  there  was  Society,  there  were 
families,  churches,  magistrates :  the  change  then  was  from  one 
form  of  Crovernment  to  another,  not  from  no-government  to  go- 
vernment; not  from  no-society  to  society.  Men  were  not  in  a 
State  of  Nature  before  the  Revolution,  and  after  it  stepped  at 
once  into  the  Social  State.  Whatsoever  the  Social  Contract  may 
be,  and  whensoever  it  may  be  imagined  to  have  been  made,  it 
certainly  was  not  made  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  our 
Government,  and  our  Constitution  does  not  answer  to  the  descrip«- 
tion  given  of  it. 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  26T 

We  go  back,  then,  to  our  English  ancestors.  We  have  the 
history  of  the  nation  for  a  thousand  years  at  least.  If  a  fact  so 
remarkable  as  this,  of  a  Social  Contract,  by  which  a  whole  nation 
stepped  from  a  State  of  Nature  in  which  no  Society  existed,  into 
the  Social  state ;  if  a  fact  so  remarkable  ever  occurred  in  that 
people,  we  should  have,  in  all  reason  and  common  sense,  some 
record  of  its  happening.  But  there  is  no  record  of  time  or  pla(?e, 
nor  of  any  thing  that  can  prove  this  alleged  fact  of  a  Contract, 
in  the  history  of  the  English  nation. 

But  we  may  have  evidence  of  it,  perhaps,  in  the  times  anterior 
to  the  national  existence  of  England  :  and  lo  !  in  the  historical 
records  of  the  whole  world  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  of 
such  a  transaction,  such  a  Contract !  The  matter  is  a  supposition, 
a  theory,  a  fiction,  so  far  as  evidence  or  record  of  it  is  required 
or  searched  for — not  a  matter  of  fact. 

Wherever,  even  in  the  fewest  numbers,  the  Man  is  seen,  there 
is  he  seen  in  Society ;  he  enters  into  Society  as  member  of  a 
Family;  where  there  are  only  two  or  three  families,  there  is 
Government  in  the  Tribe,  which  is  the  Nation  in  little ;  and  there 
is  Worship.  Where  there  is,  either  from  newness  or  from  desola- 
tion by  famine,  pestilence,  war,  or  emigration,  only  one  family 
in  the  land,  the  three  elements  are  seen  coexisting  in  the  one 
social  organization,  which  is  at  once  a  Family,  a  Nation  in  little, 
and  a  Church ;  and  the  head  at  once  is  Father,  and  King  or 
Chief  Magistrate,  and  Priest.  These  relations  are  not  made  by 
any  supposed  compact,  but  are  coeval  with  man,  for  as  far  back 
as  we  go  we  see  them  to  exist,  and  we  see  no  evidence  of  Con- 
tract constituting  them. 

But  again,  this  theory  supposes  that  there  was  in  existence 
antecedent  to  the  Social  State,  a  State  of  Nature!  This  is  a 
fact  asserted,  a  thing  of  which  we  ought  to  have  evidence.  It 
is  supposed  to  be  a  state  opposite  to  that  of  Society,  a  state  in 
which  there  was  no  society,  but  only  individuals;  in  which,  of 
course,  there  were  no  Families,  no  Nations,  no  Worships;  in 
which  therefore  there  were  no  husbands  and  no  wives,  no  property, 
no  magistrates,  nothing,  in  short,  but  the  individual  man  eating 
and  drinking,  and  freely  doing  whatever  his  heart  moved  him  to ! 
Was  there  ever  such  a  state  as  this  ? 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  never  was :  because,  as  we  have  said, 
the  very  first  sight  we  get  of  man  in  the  records  of  our  race, 


268  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

sacred  or  profane,  shows  him  in  Society;  shows  all  its  three  forms 
to  exist;  and  shows  his  nature  too,  so  framed  and  adapted  for 
Society,  that  it  is  manifest  that  he  was  made  and  organized  for 
it,  and  it  was  made  and  organized  for  Mm.  So  far  with  regard 
to  the  fancied  State  of  Nature  as  supposed  to  exist  before  and  in 
opposition  to  the  Social  State. 

But  again,  the  "Man,"  in  acceding  to  the  "  Social  Contract," 
and  entering  into  the  Social  State,  is  supposed  to  have  surrendered 
a  portion  of  his  "Original  Rights."  I  confess  I  do  not  see  that 
in  Society  any  rights  belonging  to  the  individual  are  surrendered. 
Life  and  Liberty  and  Property  are  certainly  secured  against  out- 
rage, which,  if  the  Nation  did  not  exist,  they  would  endure. 
Except,  perhaps,  that  which  society  makes  a  crime,  is  a  "  right 
original;'"  except  "rapine,"  and  "theft,"  and  "brutality,"  and 
contempt  of  the  marriage  bond,  except  these,  which  Society  calls 
"  Crimes,"  are  "  Original  Rights."* 

I  cannot  see  how  Man  in  Society  "  surrenders  a  portion  of  his 
rights."  To  secure  life  at  the  expense  of  contributing  perhaps 
three  days''  labour  in  a  whole  year,  instead  of  being  perpetually 
in  peril  and  constantly  in  arms ;  to  secure  property  by  a  like  ex- 
penditure of  time,  instead  of  being  able  only  to  possess  that  which 
with  armed  hand  we  can  take  and  hold ;  this,  so  far  from  a  "  Sur- 
render of  Rights,"  seems  to  me  an  enlargement  of  them. 

And  looking  steadfastly  at  the  civilized  man  and  at  the  man 

*  Here  is  the  immoral  element  in  this  theory,  the  concealed  premise,  al- 
ways held  back  yet  always  implied  and  insinuated  in  various  forms,  by  Kous- 
seau  and  his  followers,  the  doctrine  that  the  Law  of  Society  only  made  those 
actions  vicious,  which,  before  that  law,  were  not  only  not  vicious,  but  righU 
of  the  individual  man,  at  that  period,  the  golden  age  of  Kousseau,  when 

"  Wild  in  woods  the  noble  savage  ran,  / 

Ere  arts  and  manners  first  corrupted  man." 

And  so,  it  seems,  murder,  theft,  rapine,  promiscuous  concubinage,  all  these 
are  "  original  rights"  of  the  individual  man,  which  he  surrenders  to  society 
by  being  under  the  Social  Contract, — ^not  wrong  in  themselves  by  any  means ! 
The  evils  of  this  theory  are  thus  manifest  to  any  mind ;  they  were  in  fact 
and  reality  manifested  in  the  corruption  of  manners  that  preceded  the  French 
Revolution.  This  vile  theory  had  taken  possession  of  the  whole  mind  of  the 
nation  of  France,  and  such  was  its  result. 

Such  is  the  power  unto  evil  of  one  base,  "  bad-hearted"  man  of  Genius. 
In  this  has  Rousseau  a  bad  pre-eminence.  He  is  the  one,  the  only  thoroughly 
bad-hearted  man  of  true  Genius  the  experience  of  the  past  reveals  to  us. 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.-  269 

who  approaclies  nearest  to  that  fancied  "  State  of  Nature,"  so 
far  from  a  "surrender  of  rights,"  the  consequence  of  Society  is 
an  enlarging^  developing,  securing  of  rights, — and  the  man  in  a 
Social  State  has  a  thousand  rights  the  savage  cannot  possess. 

Never,  in  fact,  did  this  fancied  State  of  Nature  exist ;  never  did 
a  "  Social  Contract"  take  place  either  between  men  to  make  So- 
ciety, or  between  any  Individual  to  enter  into  Society ;  never 
were  any  rights  original  to  man  surrendered.  And  the  facts 
which  they  twist  into  proofs  of  a  contract  are  proofs  of  this  only, 
"that  the  ^Individual  Man'  is  made  for  Society — suited  and 
adapted  by  his  nature  to  dwell  therein  always  and  for  ever  ;  and 
that  Society  is  made  for  him,  so  that  his  nature  responds  to  the 
organization  and  the  organization  to  his  nature:"  and  this,  in 
accordance  with  the  principle  so  often  laid  down  in  this  book,  and 
urged  as  a  primary  one  in  Morals,  that  all  things  are  double,  one 
against  another,  and  God  hath  made  nothing  imperfect.  In  fact, 
the  whole  theory  existed  only  in  the  brain  of  that  man  whom 
before  we  noticed  as  the  most  base  and  bad-hearted  of  all  writers : 

"  The  self-torturing  sophist,  vain  Rousseau." 

It  was  a  fiction  and  a  theory,  for  the  time  and  for  the  place. 
When  the  tyranny  of  the  king  and  aristocracy  of  France  had 
become  so  oppressive  as  to  shake  the  very  grounds  of  all  confi- 
dence ;  when  faith  had  become  a  mockery  to  intellect ;  and  the 
conduct  of  men  of  rank  a  base  and  filthy  scandal ;  so  that  all 
things  were  preparing  for  downfall  and  ruin,  then  came  forth  this 
theory  of  the  "  Social  Contract,"  as  a  banner  to  men  who  seemed 
to  themselves  to  see  no  hope  of  justice  or  equity  save  in  the  de- 
struction of  all  things. 

And  these  men  took  this  theory  for  granted,  because  thus  they 
were  enabled  to  say,  "You  are  bound  to  us  as  we  to  you,  by  con- 
tract ;  do  that  duty,  or  we  shall  break  our  contract ;  we  are  en- 
titled to  do  it,  and  if  you  compel  us,  why  then  we  recur  to  our 
original  rights,  and  one  of  them  is  the  holy  right  of  insurrection" 
a  phrase  ten  thousand  times  employed  in  the  French  Revolution. 

It  was  a  theory  for  the  times ;  it  may  be  as  well  put  aside  now : 
we  may  as  well  found  our  duties  and  rights  upon  truth,  and 
holiness,  and  equity,  and  the  nature  of  Man,  of  God,  and  of 
Society,  as  upon  Contract. 

The  theory  of  the  "  Social  Contract"  having  thus  been  ex- 


270  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

amined  and  rejected,  upon,  we  conceive,  good  grounds,  we  take  it 
that  "Society"  is  an  Institution  of  God,  coeval  with  man,  adapt- 
ed to  his  nature  as  his  nature  to  it,  and  so  fitted  to  it  that  it 
is  not  only  merely  the  best,  but  the  only  condition  for  him  to 
exist  in. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  Family  always  existent. — The  Home  its  realization  in  Space  and  Time. — 
Heathen  notions  of  its  institution. — The  feeling  that  the  Law  makes  it. — 
Man's  nature. — Nature  of  Society,  and  the  express  Law  of  God. — These, 
pot  mere  legislation  cause  it. — Pretty  fables  about  marriage. — Natural 
feeling  of  unity. — ^Doctrine  of  the  Roman  Law. — Common-Law  Doctrine. — > 
Doctrine  of  the  Scriptures. — Conclusions :  1st,  Law  does  not  make  mar- 
riage; 2d,  Marriage  is  no  Sacrament,  but  a  Mystery;  3d,  All  bound  to 
marriage,  except,  first,  it  is  wrong  for  them  to  marry — secondly,  for  a 
religious  motive. 

Wherever,  as  we  have  shown,  Man  appears,  there  Society 
appears,  simultaneously  as  it  were,  and  coeval  with  his  existence. 
Man  as  made  was  one,  it  is  true,  at  first,  but  afterwards,  when 
"the  Lord  God  said.  It  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be 
alone,"  from  his  flesh  and  bones  was  made  a  partner  for  him. 
And  since  then,  man  as  born  has  always  come  into  Society — he 
has  been  born  into  it.  And  this  society  made  up  of  a  pair,  a 
Man  and  a  woman  living  together — a  Husband*  and  a  wife.f 
This  pair,  with  their  offspring,  constitute  the  Family.  Their 
dwelling  is  called  the  Home. 

Hence  result  a  multitude  of  relations  of  Persons — of  Husband 
to  Wife — of  Wife  to  Husband — of  Parents  to  Children — of 
Children  to  Parents — of  Brothers  to  Sisters — of  Sisters  to  Bro- 
thers. All  these  manifestly  are  relations  between  Persons  in 
Society,  and  that  Society  composed  of  these  Persons  is  the 
Family. 

And  again,  owing  to  the  Nature  of  man,  which  is  a  nature  in 
Space  and  Time,  this  Society,  the  Family,  has  a  place  of  inhabi- 
tation, a  dwelling  to   itself  exclusive,  in  which  only  the  one 

*  "  House-band" — ^the  union  of  the  house. 
+  Wif«»  from  "  weiben,"  to  weave  or  unite. 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  271 

Family  dwells,  or  ought  naturally  to  dwell,  the  Home :  and  the 
Society  therein  is,  as  it  were,  set  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  by  visible  and  tangible  limits;  defined  by  them  to  be, 
although  composed  of  many  members  and  many  relations  natu- 
rally, still  One  only.  One  by  exclusion  of  others  from  without ; 
one  by  union  of  interests  and  feelings  and  mutual  aid  within  \ 
one  by  authority  and  by  love.  A  oneness  of  organization  with 
manifoldness  of  members  and  relations  and  affections.  There  is 
authority  there,  in  the  authority  of  the  Father.  And  there  also 
naturally  exists  the  unity  of  love,  represented  in  all  its  pos- 
sible relations,  and  flowing,  as  it  were,  from  one  fountain,  the 
Mother. 

We  come  now  to  examine  into  the  nature  of  this  Society,  and 
the  Affections  that  are  in  the  heart  towards  it,  "  The  Home," 
we  have  entitled  this  book,  "and  its  Affections." 
^  And  first,  the  question  is,  Whence  comes  it  ?  How  was  it 
organized?  Whence  its  Laws?  This  I  conceive  a  question 
worth  noting,  but  not  worth  examining.  I  see  the  man  that 
was  made  by  the  hand  of  God,  by  him  brought  into  Society — 
but  all  men  that  are  horn,  born  into  a  family.  The  Family,  I 
see,  by  the  most  ancient  of  histories — the  Bible — to  have  been 
instituted  of  God.  I  then,  as  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  take  it  for 
granted  that  it  was  so :  that  for  one  man  and  one  woman  to  live 
together  as  Husband  and  Wife  all  their  days,  that  this  was  the 
original  institution.  That  those  who  lived  otherwise  were  not 
they  who  lived  as  at  firsts  but  they  who  broke  off  and  diverged 
from  the  original  institution.     Heathens*  may  say, 

"First  men  crawled  out  from  the  earth,  a  brute  and  dumb 
class  of  animals,  fighting  with  fists  and  nails  for  acorns  and  wild 
fruits,  then  with  cudgels,  and  then  with  arms  which  necessity 
invented.     Then  their  rude  cries  they  gradually  formed  into 

*  Quum  prorepserunt  primis  animalia  terns, 

Mutnm  ac  turpe  pecus,  glandem  atque  cubilia  propter, 
Unguibus,  et  pugnis,  dein  fiistibus,  atque  ita  porro 
Pugnabant  armis,  quae  post  fabricaverat  usus : 
Donee  verba,  quibus  voces  sensusque  notarent, 
Nominaque  invenere :  dehinc  absistere  bello, 
Oppida  ccBperunt  munire,  et  ponere  leges, 
Ne  quis  fur  esset,  neu  latro,  ueu  quis  adulter. 

Hob.  Sat.  Ub.  i.  3. 


272  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

articulate  language ;  and  lawgivers  came,  who  taught  them  mar- 
riage and  instructed  them  in  law." 

This  is  the  heathen  view  entirely.  The  Christian  is,  that  mar- 
riage was  the  Original  State,  and  Language  a  Divine  gift,*  and 
Lawf  a  thing  natural  to  man  from  his  own  Reason  and  from  the 
nature  of  Society  and  of  God ;  and  that  if  men  were  found  in  a 
state  such  as  above  described,  it  was  because  they  had  sunk 
voluntarily  into  it. 

But  to  resume:  Men,  asked  any  questions  with  regard  to  the 
Family  when  they  are  possessed  with  this  Heathen  notion,  will 
answer,  the  Law  makes  it  so ;  taking  it  for  granted  unwittingly 
that  the  Law  could  make  it  otherwise. 

But  with  regard  to  Marriage,  does  not  the  Law  enact  it? 
Does  it  not  inflict  penalties  upon  those  who  shall  transgress  this 
enactment  ?  and  thereby  first  cast  the  Family  into  a  precise  and 
definite  shape,  and  then  by  its  action  so  retain  it  ? 

Granting  that  it  does  all  this — all  this  will  not  be  to  constitute 
it,  but  only  to  protect,  guarantee,  and  define  it,  by  the  consent 
and  legislative  power  of  the  nation.  If  the  thing  be  ^'' right," % 
then  legislation  sanctioning  it  is  good  ;  but  if  it  be  not  "right," 
then  no  legislation  can  make  it  so. 

The  foundation,  then,  of  the  Family,  apd  its  Law,  I  seek  in 
the  Nature  of  Man  and  of  Society,  and  in  the  express  Law  of 
God.  These  are  they  that  make  and  constitute  the  Law  of  Mar- 
riage and  the  Law  of  the  Family  ;  and  human  legislation  is  good 
80  far  as  it  expresses  and  reflects  these. 

But  when  human  legislation  upon  any  point  opposes  these, 
and  says  that  it  shall  not  be  so,  but  otherwise,  then  human  legis- 
lation fails.  Mohammed  permitted  and  enacted  polygamy — and 
Nature  starts  up  and  says,  "Nay,  it  shall  not  be:  polygamy,  the 
allotment  of  many  wives  to  one  man,  cannot  be  the  Law  of  a 
Nation,  for  only  one  woman  throughout  a  nation  shall  be  born 
for  one  man."  And  thence  throughout  the  nation  that  human 
law  is  wholly  inoperative  as  a  law,  that  is,  as  an  universal  rule 

*  See  an  essay  on  the  Divine  Origin  of  Language,  in  Magee  on  the  Atone- 
ment. 

t  See  Hooker,  first  book  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Polity. 

%  Eight — ^rectum,  ruled — ^that  is,  by  the  inner  law  of  man's  moral  being ; 
and  by  the  external  law  of  God  corresponding  to  it,  wherever  and  however 
revealed. 


THE   HOME   AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  273 

of  life  ;  and  the  only  effect  is  tolerated  licentiousness  among  the 
rich  and  great,  and  a  decay  of  principle  among  the  poor,  and  a 
decrease  of  happiness  and  prosperity  in  the  nation.* 

If  Law  be  according  to  the  nature  and  being  of  Man  and 
according  to  the  Law  of  God,  then  it  is  Right,  and  sanctions 
that  which  is  Right;  but  if  it  be  not  "right,"  "ruled,"  that  is, 
according  to  the  Eternal  measure  of  immutable  and  unchange- 
able morality,  then  it  is  not  so  good.  The  will  of  God  exter- 
nally— the  Nature  of  Man  internally, — as  interpreted  by  the 
Universal  Reason  in  Society, — these  are  the  measure  of  all 
human  legislation.     And  these  always  and  for  ever  agree. 

Having  so  digressed,  we  shall,  for  a  while,  leave  the  legal  con- 
sideration of  "Marriage,"  the  "Family,"  and  the  "Home,"  and  go 
to  the  Ethical  consideration,  that  which  examines  not  its  Laws 
under  Legislation,  but  its  foundations  in  the  nature  of  man,  and 
in  the  Law  of  God. 

Now  with  regard  to  nature,  we  find  the  feelings  of  the  oneness 
and  exclusiveness  of  the  marriage  so  prevalent  among  men  from 
the  beginning,  that  it  gave  rise  to  many  pretty  and  interesting 
fables.  "  The  soul  of  man  and  woman,"  says  one  ancient  Greek 
fable,  "  was  originally  one ;  it  was  then  divided  by  Jove  into  two 
portions,  half  to  one  body,  and  half  to  the  other ;  and  hence  the 
one  soul,  with  instinctive  patience,  seeks  its  lost  half,  and  will  wan- 
der over  the  world  for  it,  and,  if  united  with  it,  shall  be  happy, 
if  not,  miserable." 

Behold  a  theory  which  at  one  blow  accounts  for  all  travelling 
and  emigration,  as  well  as  all  happiness  and  unhappiness  of  the 
marriage  tie,  and  yet  expressing  sujficiently  the  sense  the  author 
of  it  had  of  the  Spiritual  Harmony  of  Marriage. 

"  Behold,"  say  the  Cabalists — those  Jewish  retailers  of  absurd 
philosophy  and  foolish  wisdom — "man  was  originally  one,  both 
soul  and  body,  the  'Ish  Kadmon,'  or  primitive  created  being,  and 
then  God  separated  them,  and  man  fell!"  a  most  absurd  and 
ridiculous  notion,  and  yet  showing  the  sense  these  strange  philo- 
sophers had  of  the  intimate  relation  of  unity  which  the  Masculine 
character  bears  to  the  Feminine. 

*  It  is,  I  believe,  a  well  ascertained  Statistical  fact,  that  the  population  of 
Turkey — the  exclusively  Turkish  population — has  not  increased  during  the 
last  two  or  three  centuries ;  and  that  this  is  owing  exclusively  to  the  legaj 
toleration  of  Polygamy. 

85 


274  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Strange  fables,  these,  and  yet  bearing  witness  to  the  na- 
tural fact  of  unity  brought  about  and  realized  by  the  mar- 
riage tie. 

In  fact,  through  all  time  antecedent  to  Christ,  the  fables  of  all 
nations,  extravagant  as  they  may  be,  still  bear  witness  to  the  feel- 
ing and  persuasions  of  an  union  the  most  intimate  between  the 
parties,  an  union  of  Body,  Soul,  and  Spirit  as  eflfectual  as  if  they 
had  actually  become  one  body,  one  soul,  one  spirit.  And  this 
persuasion  and  universal  sentiment  assumes  manifold  forms,  some 
amusing  and  ridiculous,  and  some  interesting  and  even  sublime, 
according  to  the  nature  and  temper  of  the  narrators. 

And  in  philosophic  earnestness  and  truth,  when  we  examine 
the  nature  of  Man  and  of  Woman,  we  shall  find  that  one  is,  as  it 
were,  the  complement  and  counterpart  of  the  other,  that  which 
renders  it  perfect ;  so  that  in  the  natural  quest  to  feel  and  deter- 
mine what  would  be  the  perfection  of  humanity,  we  should  have 
to  combine  and  unite  the  various  attributes  and  qualities  of  both 
minds,  the  Masculine  and  the  Feminine,  and  would  find  that  all 
qualities  of  the  one  nature  would,  as  it  were,  combine  with  and 
perfect  those  of  the  other. 

For  instance,  the  intellect  of  man,  being  intellect,  is  still  a  very 
different  thing  in  nature  from  the  intellect  of  woman,  but  so  dif- 
ferent as  to  correspond  to  and  complete  it.  And  when  we  come 
to  imagine  the  height  and  perfection  of  intellect,  not  barely  great 
intellect,  but  the  utmost  degree  and  topmost  summit  of  all  great- 
ness of  mental  power,  then  we  naturally  fall  into  a  combination 
of  both.  We  unite  the  tenderness,  the  grace,  the  delicacy  of  the 
Female  Intellect,  with  the  boldness,  and  strength,  and  robustness 
of  the  Masculine  Mind ;  and  we  find  this  combination  actually  to 
exist  in  Shakspeare,  Dante,  Homer,  in  the  men  of  the  highest 
reach  always,  but  not  in  men  of  second-rate  powers. 

And  when  we  look  at  these  faces  of  the  loftiest  genius,  then 
shall  we  see  the  tenderness  of  the  female  countenance  uniting 
itself  with  the  strength  of  the  masculine ;  as  may  easily  be  seen 
in  the  portrait  of  Dante,  of  Shakspeare,  or  even  of  Milton. 

In  the  same  way,  if  we  take  the  whole  nature — the  Conscience, 
the  Reason,  the  Affections,  the  Will,  the  Understanding — in  the 
case  of  all  these,  they  are  the  same  in  both  sexes  ;  but  in  one  there 
is  a  certain  quality  we  call  "  Masculine,"  and  in  the  other,  a  quality 
we  call  "Feminine,"  and  one  is  supplementary,  as  it  were,  to  the 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  275 

other,  completes  and  perfects  it.  No  wonder  then  that  this  con- 
stitutional adaptedness,  this  natural  agreement  of  two  different 
natures  towards  unity  of  end,  should  be  explained  by  such  ex- 
travagant philosophies,  existent  as  that  harmony  is  in  all  faculties 
of  the  whole  being.* 

But  the  sense  of  harmony  in  two  towards  one  purpose,  or 
rather  towards  oneness  of  life,  is  manifested  exceedingly  in  the 
ordinations  and  definitions  of  legislators.  "  Nuptiae  sive  matri- 
monium,"  says  the  Roman  law,  "  est  viri  et  mulieris  conjunctio 
individuam  vitae  consuetudinem  constituens."  "Marriage  is  the 
union  of  a  man  and  woman,  constituting  an  united  habitual  course 
of  life,  never  to  he  separated ;"  and  again  the  same  Roman  law 
defines  it  to  be  "  Consortium  omnis  vitae,  divini  et  humani  juris 
communicatio:" — a  ^^  PartnersJdp  of  the  whole  life^ — a  mutual 
sharing  in  aU  rights,  human  and  divine.'' 

But  much  as  the  Roman  law  acknowledges  this  natural  unity ; 
or  rather  tendency  and  adaptedness  for  unity  of  life,  much  fur- 
ther the  English  Common  Law  goes,  for  it  actually  considers,  for 
all  legal  purposes,  man  and  wife  to  be  '■'•  one  person.'' 

To  quote  a  modern  writer,  "  The  English  Law  goes  further, 
and  considers  the  Husband  and  Wife  as  one  Person.  As  the  law- 
yers state  it,  The  very  being  or  legal  existence  of  the  woman 
is  suspended  during  the  marriage,  or  at  least  is  incorporated  and 
consolidated  in  that  of  her  husband,  under  whose  wing,  protec- 
tion, and  cover,  she  performs  every  thing,  and  is,  therefore,  in  our 
law-French,  called  feme  coverte,  and  her  condition  during  her 
marriage  is  called  her  coverture. 

"  Hence  a  man  cannot  grant  any  thing  to  his  wife  by  a  legal  act, 
or  enter  into  covenant  with  her,  for  this  would  be  to  covenant 
with  himself.  The  husband  is  bound  by  law  to  provide  his  wife 
with  the  necessaries  of  life ;  if  she  incur  debts  for  such  things, 
he  is  obliged  to  pay  them.  Even  if  the  debts  of  the  wife  have 
been  incurred  before  marriage,  the  husband  is  bound  to  discharge 
them,  for  he  has  espoused  her  and  her  circumstances  together. 
If  she  suffers  an  injury,  she  applies  for  redress  in  her  husband's 
name,  as  well  as  her  own.  If  any  one  has  a  claim  upon  her, 
the  suit  must  be  directed  against  her  husband  also.     In  criminal 

*  I  have  seen,  somewhere,  notice  of  an  absurdly  ingenious  book  called 
•'  Sex  in  Souls."  To  this  the  reply  is  easy ;  "  in  Christ  there  is  neither  male 
nor  female."    Souls  are  of  no  sex,  although  different  in  quality. 


276  .  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

prosecutions,  indeed,  the  wife  may  be  indicted  and  prosecuted 
separately,  for  the  union  is  only  a  civil  union.  But  even  in  such 
cases,  husband  and  wife  are  not  allowed  to  be  evidence  for  or 
against  each  other,  'justly,'  say  the  lawyers,  'because  it  is  impos- 
sible their  testimony  should  be  impartial;'  but  principally  because 
of  the  union  of  Person.  For  being  thus  one  person,  if  they  were 
admitted  witnesses  for  each  other,  they  would  contradict  one 
maxim  of  law,  'Nemo  in  propria  caus^  testis  esse  debet;'  'no 
one  can  be  a  witness  in  his  own  cause :'  and  if  against  each  other, 
they  would  contradict  another  maxim,  '  Nemo  tenetur  se  ipsum 
accusare;'  'no  one  is  bound  to  accuse  himself.'  "* 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  that  English  Common  Law,  which  its 
ablest  advocates  have  pronounced  the  "Perfection  of  Reason," 
and  which,  undoubtedly,  from  the  oldest  Saxon  times,  has  been 
the  Free  Element  in  the  constitution  of  England.  This  dogma, 
therefore,  that  civilly  the  effect  of  marriage  is  the  union  of  the 
two  into  one  Person,  is  the  decision  of  the  Common  Law;  a 
decision,  we  fear  not  to  say,  that  nearer  expresses  the  truth  than 
any  other.  For,  as  we  have  shown,  the  natural  feeling  of  the 
human  heart,  expressed  in  many  fables,  many  philosophies,  and 
many  legal  enactments,  is  such  that  it  confesses  an  union  of  the 
closest  and  most  intimate  kind  between  the  Husband  and  the 
Wife — an  union  so  closely  drawn  and  intimate,  that  by  no  other 
words  can  we  clearly  express  the  fulness  of  it,  than  by  these  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  law — "these  two  individuals  make  one  Person." 

So,  when  we  come  to  the  Scriptures,  we  find  the  same  doctrine 
most  plainly  held  forth.  The  doctrine  that  these,  being  two  in- 
dividuals, "are  one  flesh,"  one  humanity;  that  is,  one,  not  only 
in  union  of  interests,  will,  sympathies,  and  affections,  for  this  is  a 
figurative  oneness,  but  one  as  no  other  oneness  is :  so  one,  that 
by  Christ's  law  nothing  but  death  can  disunite  them;  one,  so  that 
the  unbelieving  husband  or  wife  is  sanctified  by  the  believer ; 
^ne,  as  Christ  and  his  church  are  one;  one  "in  a  mystery,"  that 
is  to  say,  the  fact  is  to  us  impossible  and  incomprehensible  as  a 
fact,  yet,  as  being  revealed  to  us  by  the  word  of  God,  is  true ; 
while  the  means  whereby  it  is  so,  the  grounds,  the  consequences 
of  it,  these  lie  far  beyond  us,  deep  hidden  in  the  limitless  power 
and  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  the  eternal  God.  This,  as  may 
be   seen  from  the  words  of  St.  Paul  and  of  our  Lord  Jesus, 

*  Blackstone's  Commentaries. 


THE   HOME   AND  ITS  AFFECTIONS.  277 

is  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Scripture  and  the  Church  concerning 
the  marriage  union. 

"  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands,  as  unto 
the  Lord,  For  the  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife,  even  as 
Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church :  and  he  is  the  Saviour  of  the 
body.  Therefore  as  the  church  is  subject  unto  Christ,  so  let  the 
wives  be  subject  to  their  own  husbands  in  every  thing.  Hus- 
bands, love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and 
gave  himself  for  it ;  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with 
the  washing  of  water  by  the  word,  that  he  might  present  it  to 
himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any 
Buch  thing ;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish.  So 
ought  men  to  love  their  wives  as  their  own  body.  For  he  that 
loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself.  For  no  man  ever  yet  hated  his 
own  flesh  ;  hut  nourisheth  and  cherisheth  it,  even  as  the  Lord  the 
church :  for  we  are  members  of  his  body,  his  flesh,  and  his  bones. 
For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and 
shall  be  joined  unto  his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  become  one  flesh. 
This  is  a  great  mystery ;  and  this  I  apply  to  Christ  and  the 
church."* 

*  Eph.  V.  22.  It  will  be  seen,  in  the  above  citation  from  St  Paul,  that  I 
translate  two  phrases  somewhat  differently  from  what  they  are  in  our  Eng- 
lish version.  The  first,  in  our  version,  is,  "  they  shall  he  one  flesh."  The 
Greek  expresses  it  differently ;  it  is,  "  they  shall  be  unto  one  flesh ;"  that  is, 
"  shall  become."  There  is  in  the  original  a  Greek  word  corresponding  to 
our  English  word  "  unto,"  which  seems  to  be  wholly  neglected  in  our  ver- 
sion, and  yet  upon  it  the  stress  of  the  argument  lies.  The  same  phrase, 
"  shall  be  unto,"  I  shall  translate  in  this  way  in  citing  our  blessed  Lord's 
words :  I  shall  not  therefore  notice  it  at  that  place. 

Again,  there  is  another  peculiar  phrase,  which  in  the  Greek  original  is, 
iovto  Si  Tu'yw  Htpi."  I  translate  it,  "and  this  I  apply  to."  Let  my  reader 
examine  the  passage,  and  he  shall  find  that  the  first  translation  makes  a  jar 
in  the  sequency  of  the  argument ;  the  second  brings  it  clearly  out.  The 
argument  is  from  the  idea  of  the  mysterious  nature  of  the  marriage  union, 
with  which  idea  every  Jew  was  well  acquaintedj  to  the  doctrine,  entirely 
new  to  them,  of  the  rntal  union  of  Christ  with  His  Church.  The  argument 
and  illustration  is  from  the  one  to  the  other ;  a  logical  connexion  that  is  dis- 
located completely  by  one  version,  but  expressed  by  the  other  in  the  text. 

But  are  not  the  words,  "  but  this  I  say  concerning,"  the  translation,  even 
a  literal  translation,  of  the  Greek  ?  Yes.  And  so  of  the  French,  "  II  fait 
froid,"  the  English,  "  It  makes  cold,"  is  a  translation,  and  yet  it  is  nonsense  ; 
and  of  the  English,  "  So  wo-begone,"  "  Ainsi  douleur  vartren,"  is  a  translar 
tion.    The  fact  is,  as  keen  old  Selden,  from  whom  I  take  the  iUostration, 


278  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

This  is  the  plain  doctrine  of  Scripture :  a  doctrine  that  says 
that,  in  the  very  being  and  constitution  of  man  by  his  creation, 
there  is  a  mystery  in  reference  to  marriage. 

A  mystery,  in  the  Scripture  language,  is  "  a  thing  declared  to 
us  as  a  fact,  and  therefore  to  be  received  upon  the  evidence  of 
Almighty  God,  and  yet  the  reasons  and  causes  of  which  are  hid- 
den from  us."  So  is  "the  Incarnation,"  the  fact  that  God  was 
born  of  a  woman  and  assumed  flesh, — this  is  a  "mystery,"  a  fact 
declared  and  shown,  and  for  which,  on  natural  grounds,  the 
grounds  of  mere  reason,  we  cannot  account. 

Thus  marriage  is  a  "Mystery,"  and  the  Mystery  is,  that  as 
"  Christ  and  the  Church"  are  actually  one,  so  should  the  hus- 
band and  wife  be  one, — that  as  we,  having  mortal  bodies  here 
upon  earth,  are  united  with  his  Spii'itual  and  Immortal  Human- 
ity upon  the  throne,  and  are  thus  one  with  him,  so  should  these 
two,  the  Man  and  the  Woman,  being  two,  become  and  he  onejiesh. 

And  hence  that,  as  the  church  obeys  Christ,  so  should  the 
wife  obey  the  husband :  not  through  compulsion,  force,  or  fear, 
but  through  love,  because  obedience  in  love  is  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  her  position ;  and  so  should  the  husband  love  the  wife, 
as  Christ  loved  the  church,  because  this  is  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  his  position,  and  because  "  she  is  his  flesh,  and  no  one 
hateth  his  own  flesh." 

Here  is  the  mystery.  The  apostle  takes  it  for  granted  that 
they  are  actually  and  really  one,  and  argues  therefrom  as  it  is 
80  ;  but  the  ground  and  the  reason  of  the  union  that  makes  it  so 
he  does  not  declare — only  that  it  is. 

From  this  fact,  then,  we  shall  deduce  several  consequences. 

1st.  Marriage  is  not  an  institution  of  the  Law,  so  that  the 
Law  institutes  it  as  it  institutes  a  Savings  Bank,  a  Senate,  a 

has  remarked,  "there  are  two  kinds  of  translation,  literal  and  idiomatic;" 
and  to  translate  an  idiom  literally  is  no  translation,  but  is  nonsense. 

This  Greek  idiom,  then,  "  this  I  speak  of,"  or  "  concerning,"  is  used 
idiomatically  for  "I  apply  unto,"  or  in  "illustration  of."  Of  this,  any 
scholar  that  may  think  it  worth  while,  as  I  have  done,  to  search  through 
Stephens's  Greek  Thesaurus  upon  the  point,  may  easily  satisfy  himself. 

The  translation,  then,  that  gives  the  full  sense  of  the  idiom  is,  "  And  this" 
(that  is,  the  mystery  of  the  union  of  man  and  woman  in  marriage  assumed 
as  a  fact)  "  I  apply  to"  (illustrate  that  vital  and  equally  real  union  of) 
"Christ  and  the  church." 


THE   HOME  AND  ITS  AFFECTIONS.  279 

School,  or  an  Observatory,  and  then  can  unmake  it  and  reach 
the  same  end  by  another  institution  of  a  different  kind.  This  it 
is  not,  but  an  institution  of  man's  being,  a  law  of  his  nature  as 
ereated,a,  fact  antecedent  to  all  Human  Law.  So  is  marriage  in 
Society,  a  law  before  all  laws  ;  and  therefore  the  work  of  human 
law  and  man's  legislation  is  to  enforce  upon  the  citizen  these  two 
laws,  the  innate  law  of  nature,  the  outward  law  of  God's  reve- 
lation ;  but  not  to  dream  that  they  shall  be  able  to  make  and 
unmake,  form  anew  and  remould  that  which  is  superior  to  them 
all,  and  to  them  all  antecedent. 

Another  conclusion  we  would  draw  from  this :  As  marriage  is 
a  Mystery  of  our  nature  antecedent  to  all  law,  and  Law  has,  as 
we  have  said,  the  power  only  to  enforce,  to  regulate,  and  to  pro- 
tect ;  hence  all  marriages  wherein  the  individuals  legally  declare 
their  desire  and  intention,  before  authorities  constituted  and 
established  by  law,  to  live  together  in  the  state  of  matrimony, 
are  legal  and  valid*  marriages  ;  the  individual  thereby  enabling 
the  State  to  maintain  and  enforce  that  contract  and  agreement 
then  made. 

But  marriage  contracted  with  prayer  and  religious  rites,  and 
the  blessing  of  God's  church,  and  solemn  and  appropriate  ser- 
vices— ^this  marriage  is  legal  also  and  valid,  and  more  than  this, 
is  blessed,  being  in  accordance  with  the  precept,  "Wliether  ye 
eat  or  drink,  or  whatever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  honour  and  glory  of 
God." 

And  this  in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Church, 
which  holds  marriage  not  to  be  a  Sacrament  of  the  church  and 
instituted  by  Christ,  but  to  be  a  mystery  of  man  8  being,  an 
adaptedness  of  his  nature  as  originally  created. 

And  this  in  opposition  to  the  Romanists,  who  declare  marriage 
to  be  a  Sacrament ;  and  therefore,  seeing  that  among  themselves 
they  think  the  only  valid  sacraments  are,  do  in  effect  declare  all 
marriages  except  those  among  themselves  invalid,  and  bastardize 
all  offspring  save  their  own.  Because,  instead  of  being  content 
with  the  Scripture  doctrine,  "  that  marriage  is  a  mystery,"  they 

*  Provided  always  the  law  of  the  State  do  not  contradict  the  law  of  God. 
A  Turkish  marriage  to  a  second  or  third  living  wife  may  be  very  legal  ac- 
cording to  the  Mohammedan  law :  in  the  law  of  God  it  is  adultery,  or  concu- 
binage. 


280  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

"Would  add  to  it  still  greater  sanctity  and  greater  effect,  ana 
make  of  it  a  "  Sacrament." 

Another  inference  I  would  draw  is  this :  Except  a  person  be 
incapacitated  for  marriage  by  reason  that  he  cannot  support  a 
family,  or  by  any  other  reason  that  renders  it  positively  wrong 
for  him  to  enter  upon  the  marriage  state,  he  is  wrong  in  not 
being  married. 

Marriage  is,  by  its  very  nature,  and  by  the  very  nature  and 
being  of  man,  a  better  state  than  singleness,  a  more  moral  state, 
a  more  natural  and  useful  state ;  and  except,  as  I  have  above 
said,  there  is  some  impediment  that  makes  it  positively  wrong  to 
marry,  all  are  hound  to  marry,  and  are  better  mentally,  morally, 
and  physically,  because  of  it. 

And  thereby,  to  remain  unmarried  merely  for  expediency- 
sake,  or  for  mere  Self- Will,  or  capricious  motives,  this  is  wrong 
and  evil,  from  the  nature  of  man  and  of  society.  So  that,  save 
on^  actually  is  disqualified  for  marriage  so  that  it  shall  be  wrong 
for  him  to  marry,  he  is  naturally  in  a  better  situation  marrying 
than  not  so. 

But  there  is  one  exception  made  by  our  Saviour ;  that  is,  "  for 
Religion's  sake."  "Some  are  eunuchs  made  of  men,  and  some 
have  made  themselves  eunuchs  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven's 
sake."     "  He  that  is  able  to  receive  it,  let  him  receive  it." 

"For  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven's  sake" — for  a  religious  motive^ 
our  Lord  permits  men  to  remain  unmarried ;  and  not  only  per- 
mits, but  requests  and  desires  them  so  to  do. 

For  a  religious  motive : — Say  that  thou  art  a  son  with  a 
widowed  and  helpless  mother  and  her  feeble  little  children,  left 
with  only  thyself  to  look  to  ;  thou  canst  marry,  have  a  family  of 
thine  own,  enjoy  comfort  and  satisfaction.  Surrender  all  these; 
give  thyself  up  to  be  the  support  of  the  feeble  mother  and  her 
helpless  children,  and  to  be  a  father  to  them ;  and  this,  done  in 
faith  and  trust  in  God  and  his  Christ — this  shall  be  for  thee  a 
blessedness,  permitted  and  sanctified,  to  remain  unmarried  for 
Christ  and  his  kingdom's  sake. 

Daughter !  the  last  child  of  a  widowed  mother,  who  thinkest 
whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  comfort  her  declining  years 
than  to  be  at  the  head  of  thine  own  family :  this  the  first  to 
do,  is  to  remain  unmarried  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven's  sake. 
And  so  of  a  multitude  of  other  cases  of  the  same  kind,  among 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  281 

which  come  possibly  cases  of  missionary  labour,*  in  which  parti- 
cular men  may  feel  that  to  preach  among  the  heathen  is  a  duty 
so  bound  upon  them,  that  for  it,  through  Christ,  they  are  to 
remain  unmarried.     Such  was  St.  Paul. 

But  in  all  such  cases,  it  is  a  duty  of  which,  first,  the  individual 
is  to  judge  himself:  "He  that  is  able  to  receive  it,  let  him  re- 
ceive it,"  For  that  Self-denial  that  is  compelled  by  Law  is  not 
Self-denial  at  all,  but  compulsion. 

And,  secondly,  the  person  must  be  able  to  receive  it,  that  is, 
be  a  person  such  by  nature  and  by  Grace  that  he  can  remain  as 
moral  unmarried  as  married. 

With  these  two  qualifications,  Self-denial  for  religion's  sake  is 
an  exception  made  by  Christ  himself,  and  blessed  of  him.  But 
this  case  and  that  exception  above  stated  are  the  only  ones  that 
at  all  exempt  men  from  the  principle  that  says,  "  Marriage  is 
honourable  in  all,  and  the  bed  un defiled." 

*  There  is  a  great  deal  of  good  sense  in  the  following  passage  from  the 
■works  of  Dr.  Miller,  of  Princeton,  an  eminent  Presbyterian.  Although  I 
must  say  that  I  think  "  Itinerancy"  has  done  almost  all  the  good  it  can  do, 
and  the  sooner  it  is  replaced  by  a  settled  parochial  clergy,  (who,  according 
to  the  deliberate  opinion  and  primitive  usage  of  the  Greek  Church,  ought 
always  to  be  a  married  clergy,)  the  better.  I  must  say,  also,  that  of  all  insti- 
tutions, I  believe  an  unmarried  Itinerancy  to  be  the  worst.  Still,  however, 
on  a  delicate  subject,  the  following  extract  contains  a  great  deal  of  good 
sense.     The  small  capitals  are  his :  the  italics  inserted  by  me. 

"  I.   In  reference  to  this  subject,  my  first  leading  suggestion  is,  that 

THERE    ARE    SOME    CLERGYMEN  THAT  OUGHT    NEVER   TO    MARRY.      While  I  firmly 

believe  that  the  doctrine  which  enjoins  celibacy  on  the  clergy  generally  is,  as 
the  apostle  styles  it,  '  a  doctrine  of  devils,'  and  that  it  has  led  and  must 
always  lead  to  the  most  enormous  evils,  I  have  at  the  same  time  no  doubt 
that  the  minister  who  deliberately  resolves  to  spend  his  days  as  an  evangelical 
itinerant,  ought,  if  he  can  be  happy  in  a  single  state,  to  continue  in  that 
state.  *  *  *  There  ought  to  be  a  few  such  ministers  in  every  church  of 
large  extent.  Yet  no  one  ought  to  be  constrained  or  even  persuaded  to 
choose  this  plan  of  life.  Nor  should  any  one  adopt  it  unless  it  be  the  object 
of  his  deliberate  and  devout  preference.  And  even  after  having  adopted  it,  he 
ought  to  feel  himself  at  liberty  to  retract  and  assume  the  conjugal  bond 
whenever  he  is  persuaded  that  he  can  serve  the  Church  better  by  doing  so." 
Miller's  Clerical  Manners,  let.  xii.  sect.  1. 


36 


282  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

Laws  of  Marriage: — I.  Permanence. — The  Scripture  Doctrine  of  Divorce 
discussed. — The  Uses  of  Permanence. — Causes  of  frequency  of  Divorce. 
St.  Paul's  Advice  in  regard  to  Marriage. — Adultery  a  Crime :  Nature  and 
the  Divine  Law  forbid  it. — Its  evil  Consequences. — The  Causes  of  Mar- 
riage unhappiness. — II.  Law  of  Mutualness. — Marriage  a  Moral  Good  in 
itself.— Highest  motive  for  Marriage  is  affection. — ^Children  should  not 
marry  without  consent  of  Parents. — Third  Law :  The  Supremacy  in  Mar- 
riage belongs  to  the  Husband. — This  doctrine  is  made  tolerable  by  Chris- 
tianity. 

We  come  now  to  the  laws  of  Marriage — those  principles, 
namely,  of  the  ordinance,  which  arise,  first,  from  its  nature,  as 
an  institution  of  God  in  our  very  being  and  the  being  of  society ; 
and,  secondly,  from  the  Laws  of  God  concerning  it. 

And  of  these  principles  the  first  is  its  permanence — "  that  it 
shall  be  an  union  for  life,  capable  of  being  dissolved  only  for  one 
cause,  that  of  Adultery." 

This  is  plainly  asserted  in  the  words  of  our  Lord :  "  The 
Pharisees  also  came  unto  him,  tempting  him,  and  saying  unto 
him.  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his  wife  for  every  cause  ? 
And  he  said  unto  them,  Have  ye  not  read,  that  he  which  made 
them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  female,  and  said, 
For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall 
cleave  to  his  wife :  and  they  twain  shall  become  one  flesh  ? 
Wherefore  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh.  What  there- 
fore God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder.  They 
say  unto  him,  Why  did  Moses  then  command  to  give  her  a 
writing  of  divorcement,  and  to  put  her  away  ?  He  saith  unto 
them,  Moses  because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts  sufiered  you 
to  put  away  your  wives :  but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so. 
And  I  say  unto  you.  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  except 
it  be  for  fornication,  and  shall  marry  another,  committeth  adul- 
tery :  and  whoso  marrieth  her  which  is  put  away  doth  commit 
adultery."* 

*  Matt.  xix.  3—9. 


THE  HOME  AND  ITS   AFFECTIONS.  283 

Here  is  the  word  of  the  Scripture  plainly :  "  He  that  made 
them  in  the  beginning,  made  them  Male  and  Female." 

God  made  man — He  was  the  author  of  man's  constitution  and 
being :  and  in  that  being  and  constitution  they  were  made  by 
him,  first,  male  and  female — adapted  by  their  very  nature  as 
man  and  woman  to  union  in  marriage ; — and,  secondly,  they  were 
only  two. 

"  And  because  of  this" — arising  from  this  harmony  of  nature 
originally  established  by  God,  so  that  in  every  way  the  one 
should  be  the  aid  and  counterpart  to  the  other,  the  male  to  the 
female  and  the  female  to  the  male,  by  natural  being  and  consti- 
tution,— upon  this  is  founded  the  law  of  God,  "/or  this  reason,  a 
man  shall  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  shall  be  united  to  his 
wife,  and  they  two  shall  become  one  flesh." 

"  He  shall  leave  father  and  mother," — the  dearest  ties  shall 
be  left  of  him ;  those  that  by  nature  are  the  closest  being  super- 
seded by  one  still  dearer  and  closer.  And  this  in  consequence 
of  the  mystery  of  his  own  being,  as  so  made  in  the  beginning. 

"And  shall  be  closely  joined  unto  his  wife,"*  united  in  such  a 
way  as  to  void  even  the  closest  natural  ties,  and  to  take  their 
place  in  priority  of  obligation :  so  close  the  bond. 

"And  they  two  shall  become  one  flesh," — not  "they  shall  he" 
but  "they  shall  he  unto,''  "they  shall  hecome." 

"Wherefore  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh."  The 
effect  of  their  marriage  union  shall  be  an  inseparable  union  into 
one  humanity.  So  that  as  in  a  Son  all  the  elements  of  his  being 
come  from  the  Father  and  the  Mother,  and  the  Father  and 
Mother  in  him  are  inseparable  and  indiscernible,  so  mysteriously 
are  the  husband  and  the  wife  united  into  "one  flesh,"  or  "one 
humanity." 

"  What  God  therefore  has  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder."  God  has  united  them  "in  one  flesh"  by  the  original 
constitution  of  their  nature  as  made  by  him,  and  by  his  express 
and  positive  law  in  accordance  with  that  nature.  Therefore,  let 
no  human  legislation  separate  them. 

And  then  He  shows  that  only  in  reference  to  the  hardness  and 
brutality  of  the  national  heart  was  the  liberty  of  divorce  poli- 
tically  permitted ;  but  that  originally  it  was  not  so. 

*  "  Cleave  unto,"  in  our  version.  The  word  is  in  the  passive  in  the  ori* 
ginal.    It  signifies  the  closest  permanent  union. 


284  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

And  tlie  conclusion  from  these  premises  is,  "  Whosoever  put- 
teth  away  his  wife,  except  for  fornication,  and  marries  another, 
commits  adultery." 

Although  human  legislation  may  permit  divorce,  or  even  decree 
and  enjoin  it,  for  many  causes,  still  the  man  who  is  divorced  for 
any  other  cause  than  the  adultery  of  Ms  wife ;  or  the  woman  who 
is  divorced  for  any  other  cause  than  the  adultery  of  her  husband, 
and  then  marries  again,  that  man  or  that  woman,  notwithstanding 
man's  legislation  and  human  law,  is,  by  the  law  of  his  own  being 
as  man,  by  the  law  under  which  Society  is  of  the  Almighty 
constituted,  by  the  law  of  God  from  the  beginning,  and  by  that 
law  as  again  declared  and  promulgated  by  Christ,  the  Word  Incar- 
nate— AN  ADULTERER  OR  ADULTERESS.  And  he  that  marries  a 
wife  so  divorced,  divorced  by  the  law  of  man,  but  still  married 
by  the  law  of  God,  is  an  adulterer.  This  is  the  law  of 
Christ,  whatsoever  be  the  law  of  man,  and,  as  such,  it 

IS  TO  BE  obeyed  BY  ALL  CHRISTIANS.         ^ 

And,  by  a  parity  of  reasoning,  since  the  clause  "save  for  for- 
nication," excludes  him  or  her  who,  because  of  this  sin  in  his  or 
her  partner,  is  divorced  and  marries  again,  from  the  sentence  of 
adultery ;  it  is  manifest  that  he  who,  because  of  the  adultery  of 
his  wife,  is  divorced  from  her,  is  legally  separated  so  as  to  be 
entirely  free  from  all  fault,  even  if  he  do  marry  again. 

Upon  this  ground  we  place  the  Christian  law  of  marriage, — upon 
nature  first,  as  originally  made  of  God, — ^^and  secondly,  upon  the 
express  law  of  God  as  cited  and  re-enacted  by  Christ.  And  we 
believe  that  as  in  all  cases  of  the  express  law  of  God,  so  in  this, 
obedience  to  the  express  command  of  the  Almighty,  even  although 
human  law  and  human  wisdom  sanction  disobedience,  shall  be 
found  ultimately  to  confer  the  greatest  amount  of  lasting  and 
permanent  happiness.  And  more  than  this,  the  sincerest  wisdom 
of  man  shall  be  ultimately  driven  to  re-enact  and  re-establish  the 
Law  of  Grod. 

But  still,  although  upon  the  Law  of  God  and  upon  the  Nature 

of  man,  we  found  the  obligation  of  permanence,  and  not  upon 

expediency,  yet  still  it  may  be  advantageous  to  show  the  uses  of 

this  permanence.     We  quote,  therefore,  from  a  writer*  whose 

principles  of  morality  we  dislike,  but  whose  logical  acuteness  was 

very  great,  who,  in  tracing  out  the  advantages  of  permanence, 

says: 

*  Paley. 


THE   HOME  AND  ITS  AF^ECTIOXS.  285 

"  A  lawgiver  whose  counsels  are  directed  by  views  of  general 
utility,  and  obstructed  by  no  local  impediment,  would  make  the 
marriage  contract  indissoluble,  during  the  joint  lives  of  the  par- 
ties, for  the  sake  of  the  following  advantages : — 

"  1.  Because  this  tends  to  preserve  peace  and  concord  between 
married  persons,  by  perpetuating  their  common  interest,  and  by 
inducing  a  necessity  of  mutual  compliance. 

"  There  is  great  weight  and  substance  in  both,  these  considera- 
tions. An  earlier  termination  of  the  union  would  produce  a 
separate  interest,  the  wife  would  naturally  look  forward  to  the 
dissolution  of  the  partnership,  and  endeavour  to  draw  to  herself 
a  fund  against  the  timer  when  she  was  no  longer  to  have  access  to 
the  same  resources.  This  would  beget  peculation  on  the  one  side, 
and  mistrust  upon  the  other,  evils  which  at  present  very  little 
disturb  the  confidence  of  the  married  life. 

"  The  second  effect  of  making  the  union  determinable  only  by 
death,  is  not  less  beneficial ;  it  necessarily  happens  that  adverse 
tempers,  habits,  and  tastes,  oftentimes  meet  in  marriage,  in  which 
case  each  party  must  take  pains  to  give  up  what  offends,  and 
practise  what  may  gratify  the  other.  A  man  and  woman  in  love 
with  each  other  do  this  insensibly,  but  love  is  neither  general 
nor  durable,  and  when  that  is  wanting,  no  lessons  of  duty,  no 
delicacy  of  sentiment  will  go  half  so  far  with  the  generality  of 
mankind  and  womankind,  as  this  one  intelligible  reflection,  that 
they  must  each  make  the  best  of  their  bargain ;  and  that,  seeing 
they  must  either  both  be  miserable  or  both  share  in  the  same  hap- 
piness, neither  can  find  their  own  comfort  but  in  promoting  the 
pleasure  of  the  other.  These  compliances,  though  at  first  extorted 
by  necessity,  become  in  time  easy  and  mutual,  and  although  less 
endearing  than  assiduities  which  take  their  rise  from  affection, 
generally  procure  to  the  married  pair  a  repose  and  satisfaction 
sufficient  for  their  happiness." 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  good  sense  in  these  remarks,  although 
we  see  in  them  the  low  and  mean  views  Paley  had  of  all  things. 
He  argues  upon  men  and  women  "united  in  holy  matrimony," 
as  a  man  would  upon  a  pair  of  oxen  united  by  a  yoke,  or  of  dogs 
in  a  double  collar !  "  They  won't  kick  or  bite,  but  will  learn  to 
run  quietly  together,  when  they  find  they  can't  be  separated !" 

But,  to  proceed,  he  goes  on  to  assign  other  reasons  for  the  per- 
manence of  the  marriage  tie : — 


286  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

"Because  new  objects  of  desire  would  be  continually  sought 
after,  if  men  could,  at  will,  be  released  from  their  subsisting 
engagements.  Suppose  the  husband  once  to  have  preferred  his 
wife  to  all  other  women,  the  duration  of  this  preference  cannot 
be  trusted  to.  There  is  no  other  security  against  the  invitations 
of  novelty  than  the  known  impossibility  of  obtaining  the  object. 
And,  constituted  as  mankind  are,  and  injured  as  the  repudiated 
wife  generally  must  be,  it  is  necessary  to  add  a  stability  to  the 
condition  of  married  women,  more  secure  than  the  continuance 
of  their  husbands'  affection.  Upon  the  whole,  the  power  of 
divorce  is  evidently  and  greatly  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  woman, 
and  the  only  question  appears  to  be,  whether  the  real  and  perma- 
nent happiness  of  one-half  the  species  should  be  surrendered  to 
the  caprice  and  voluptuousness  of  the  other  ? 

"  We  have  considered  divorces  as  depending  upon  the  will  of 
the  husband,  because  that  is  the  way  in  which  they  have  actually 
obtained  in  many  parts  of  the  world ;  but  the  same  objections 
apply  in  a  great  degree  to  divorces  by  mutual  consent,  especially 
when  we  consider  the  indelicate  situation  and  small  prospect  of 
happiness  which  remains  to  the  party  who  has  opposed  his  or  her 
dissent  to  the  liberty  and  desire  of  the  other. 

"  Milton's  story  is  well  known.  Upon  a  quarrel  with  his  wife, 
he  paid  his  addresses  to  another  woman,  and  set  forth  a  public 
vindication  of  his  conduct,  by  attempting  to  prove  that  confirmed 
dislike  was  as  just  a  foundation  for  dissolving  the  marriage  con- 
tract as  adultery';  to  which  position,  and  to  all  the  arguments  by 
which  it  can  be  supported,  the  above  considerations  afford  a  suffi- 
cient answer."* 

And  we  proceed,  ourselves,  to  add  a  few  considerations,  of  a 
different  spirit,  we  hope.  We  have  shown  that  man  is  of  three 
parts,  the  "  body,"  the  "  animal  soul,"  and  the  "  spirit ;"  of  these 
three  is  the  entire  oneness  of  his  nature  framed.  We  have  shown 
that,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  these  two  human  beings  become 
"  one  flesh ;"  there  is  an  actual  union  of  the  nature  of  the  one 
unto  that  of  the  other ;  so  that  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one 
flesh.  Now,  as  a  preparation  for  this,  there  ought  to  be  a  meetness 
and  suitableness  of  the  one  for  the  other.  I  ask,  then,  is  it  not 
a  fact  that  there  are  masses  of  men  and  women  in  whom  the  Spi- 
ritual part  is  wholly  uncultivated,  who  use  not  the  Conscience, 

*  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy. 


THE  HOME  AND  ITS  APFECTIONS.  287 

who  have  no  Spiritual  Keason  or  sense  of  the  Unseen  World,  but 
live  only  for  the  things  of  time  and  sense,  whose  Affections,  at 
least  so  far  as  the  Heart  is  concerned,  are  become  Sensual  and 
Selfish  ? 

Every  one  knows  that  there  are  multitudes  of  such  men,  multi- 
tudes of  men  whose  moral  faculties  are  utterly  uncultivated  and 
undeveloped,  and  whose  main  principle  therefore,  in  life,  is  either 
the  Sensual  one,  "to  live  for  pleasure,"  or  the  Selfish  one,  "to 
live  for  acquisition." 

If  a  man  be  in  such  a  state,  then  that  man's  heart  is  in  the 
Btate  naturally  that  the  hearts  of  the  Hebrews  were,  his  heart  is 
hard ;  hard  through  Sensuality,  and  hard  through  Selfishness. 

Say  that  such  a  one  marries ;  he  marries,  not  for  higher  objects 
than  his  nature  reaches  to,  or  for  higher  ends  than  his  Greatest 
Good  will  measure.  The  man  that  marries  for  beauty,  when  the 
beauty  is  gone,  having  had  no  higher  object,  and  no  loftier  feel- 
ing than  that  mere  sensual  admiration*  of  beauty  which  the 
ancient  heathen  and  Paley  call  "  love,"  and  the  Scriptures  call 
"desire,"  or  "lust," — why,  if  this  be  the  object  of  his  marriage, 
why  should  he  be  confined  to  one  wife  ?  why  not  more  than  one  ? 
why  not  the  utmost  latitude  ?  Surely,  if  this  be  the  highest  end 
and  the  highest  aim,  the  real  affections  will  be  neglected,  and  the 
utmost  latitude  of  divorce  sought  for  and  desired. 

And  again,  if  objects  merely  Selfish  be  sought  for,  if  the  hus- 
band want  a  housekeeper  only,  and  the  wife  only  a  man  who  can 
give  "  a  comfortable  home,"  this  very  thing — this  attaching  a  Self- 
ish end  exclusively  to  marriage,  this  too  infers,  in  reasoning  upon 

*  An  old  poet  "beautifully  contrasts  this  with  true  affection : 

He  that  loves  a  rosie  cheeke, 

Or  a  coral  lip  admires, 
Or  from  star-like  eyes  doth  seek 

Fuel  to  maintain  his  fires, 
As  Old  Time  maketh  these  decay. 
So  his  flames  must  waste  away. 

But  a  smoothe  and  stead&st  minde, 

Gentle  thoughts  and  calme  desires, 
Hearts  with  equal  love  combined, 

Kindle  never-dying  fires ; 
When  these  are  not,  I  do  despise 
Lovely  cheekes,  or  lips,  or  eyes. 


288  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

it,. the  utmost  latitude  of  divorce.  For  if  the  man's  highest  end 
is  to  obtain  a  good  housekeeper  only,  and  this  is  the  view  he  takes 
of  marriage,  and  he  is  disappointed,  naturally  he  will  think  he 
ought  to  have  the  liberty  again  to  try  and  suit  himself. 

Suppose  the  end  of  marriage  to  be  either  Selfish  or  Sensual, 
and  that  rightly  and  properly  a  man  can,  for  these  motives,  and 
no  Jdglier  ones,  engage  in  it.  And  then,  naturally,  there  is  a 
craving  for  unlimited  divorce  ;  then,  naturally,  the  Scripture  doc- 
trine is  changed,  and  husband  and  wife  are,  and  should  be  on 
ihese  grounds,  allowed  to  be  separated  for  every  cause. 

Now  there  are,  unquestionably,  a  vast  number  of  divorces  at 
the  present  day.  I  trace  them  to  these  reasons, — in  the  first  place, 
to  the  philosophy  of  the  day,  which  is  the  Sensual  philosophy  of 
John  Locke,  who  asserts  that  Pleasure  and  Pain  are  to  be  the 
rules  of  action,  and  that  Good  and  Evil  are  to  be  measured  by 
them  :*  and  therefore,  so  far  as  in  him  lay,  he  has  made  man 
utterly  Sensual  and  Unspiritual.  In  the  second  place,  to  the 
"Selfish"  philosophy  of  Paley,  which  makes  "selfishness  regu- 
lated by  reason"  the  rule  of  action,  and  is  very  commonly  held 
among  us.  And  in  the  third  place,  to  the  absence  of  a  regular 
and  systematic  cultivation  of  the  Spiritual  powers  in  the  mass  of 
our  people. 

Because  of  this,  multitudes  are  even,  as  were  the  old  Jews,  hard- 
hearted— Selfish  that  is,  and  Sensual,  with  no  sense  or  feeling  of 
the  sacredness  and  the  mysteriousness  of  marriage  ;  looking  upon 
it  as  upon  any  other  contract  made  by  the  consent  of  two,  which 
by  the  consent  of  two  can  be  dissolved. 

This  is  the  case  with  multitudes  of  men  at  the  present  day ; 
and  therefore  I  say  to  Christian  men  and  Christian  women, 
"  Keep  ye  by  the  law  of  God  and  Christ,  and  it  shall  bring  to  you 
a  content  and  satisfaction  that  these  men  cannot  comprehend. 
And  as  by  religion,  your  moral  and  spiritual  being  is  educated 
and  developed,  so  take  care  that  with  regard  to  those  with  whom 
you  may  he  u/nited,  it  be  so  also,  as  marriage  is  an  union  myste- 
riously of  the  whole  nature.  For  otherwise,  much  suffering,  much 
sorrow,  riiuch  affliction  you  will  have,  if  to  the  Unspiritual,  to  the 
Selfish,  or  to  the  Sensual,  you  are  united.  For  in  Ethics  it  is,  by 
the  very  nature  of  the  scientific  principles  of  it,  a  true  advice, 
'be  not  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers.'  "f 

*  See  note  on  Book  17.  chapter  4.  f  2  Cor.  vi.  14. 


THE  HOME   AND  ITS  AFFECTIONS.  289 

The  proper  preparation  for  marriage  that  shall  come  up  to 
the  Christian  idea  of  it,  is  an  adaptedness  of  the  whole  nature ; 
first,  a  Religious  and  Moral  development  of  the  Spiritual  nature, 
so  as  to  enable  the  man  to  appreciate  the  sacred  mysteriousness 
of  marriage,  and  to  exclude  Selfishness  and  Sensuality  from  being 
leading  motives ;  secondly,  a  development  of  the  mental  and  intel- 
ligent part,  so  as  to  manage  well  the  afiairs  of  life  ;  and  thirdly, 
full  age  and  maturity  of  person. 

When  these  three  are  united,  there  exist  then  all  the  qualifica- 
tions for  a  Christian  love,  and  then  for  marriage :  but  when  only 
the  last  two,  then  there  always  will  be  a  want  of  the  Christian 
feeling  in  the  most  of  persons,  and  a  desire  that  divorce  should 
be  easy  and  unrestrained. 

And  the  first  qualification,  the  full  development  of  the  Moral 
being,  this  can  exist  only  in  those  who  are  trained  up  in  the  reli- 
gion of  our  God;  and  for  this  reason  I  do  conceive,  as  I  said 
above,  that  Christian  science  supports  the  advice  of  St.  Paul, 
"Be  not  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers." 

The  same  reasons  in  nature  and  in  the  law  of  God  that  pro- 
hibit divorce,  also  may  be  seen  to  prohibit  Polygamy,  or  the  mar- 
riage of  one  man  to  several  women,  or  one  woman  to  several  men, 
during  the  life  of  the  parties,  whether  this  be  simultaneous  or 
successive :  for  from  the  mystery  in  our  nature  it  is  prohibited ; 
"they  .two  shall  become  one  flesh,"  and  not  they  three,  or  they 
four.  The  natural  adaptedness  is  that  "  two  shall  become  one," 
and  any  more  than  two  will  violate  the  law  of  the  nature. 

But  in  addition  to  this,  and  to  the  other  arguments  against  it, 
it  will  be  seen  by  any  one  who  chooses  to  look  at  the  ordinary 
tables  of  statistics,  that  the  number  of  males  and  of  females  born 
in  the  world  is  so  very  nearly  the  same,  that  it  never  could  have 
been  intended  that  one  man  should  have  more  wives  than  one ; 
for  if  it  were  so,  then  for  the  one  that  had  four,  three  must 
remain  unmarried.     In  fact,  again  to  quote  Paley, 

"  Polygamy  not  only  violates  the  constitution  of  nature  and 
the  apparent  design  of  the  Deity,  but  produces  to  the  parties 
themselves  and  to  the  public  the  following  bad  efiects ; — contests 
and  jealousies  amongst  the  wives  of  the  same  husband, — distract- 
ed afiections  or  the  loss  of  all  afiection  in  the  husband  himself, — 
a  voluptuousness  in  the  rich  which  dissolves  the  vigour  of  their 
intellectual  as  well  as  active  faculties,  producing  that  indolence 

87 


290  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  imbecility  both  of  mind  and  body  wbicli  have  long  charac- 
terized the  nations  of  the  East, — the  abasement  of  one  half  of 
the  human  species,  who,  in  countries  where  polygamy  obtains, 
are  degraded  into  instruments  of  mere  sensual  pleasure  to  the 
other  half, — neglect  of  children,  and  the  manifold  mischiefs  that 
arise  from  a  scarcity  of  women." 

Such  are  the  evils  of  Polygamy — evils  that  manifestly  arise 
from  the  fact  that  it  is  a  violation  of  the  natural  law  and  consti- 
tution of  man  and  of  the  express  revealed  law  of  God. 

Now,  the  same  principles  of  nature  and  of  God's  law,  besides 
that  they  enjoin  an  union  for  life  and  with  only  one,  not  with 
more  than  one, — these  same  principles  of  the  junction  of  two  in 
one,  manifestly  forbid  "Adultery,"  as  an  act  which  severs  and 
disunites  the  conjugal  tie,  so  that  in  consequence  of  this  act  the 
Law  of  God  and  of  Man  shall  pronounce  judicially  the  marriage 
at  an  end. 

In  reference  to  this  crime,  we  shall  remark  at  the  very  first, 
that  the  husband  gives  himself  to  the  wife  and  the  wife  to  the 
husband,  so  that,  in  the  words  of  the  Roman  law,  there  is 
"  omnis  vitse  consortium,"  a  "  partnership  of  the  whole  life," — 
"divini  et  humani  juris  communicatio,"  "a  community  in  all 
rights,  human  and  divine;"  according  to  the  English  law,  "a 
oneness  of  Person"  as  to  all  rights  of  life  and  property ;  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures,  a  "  oneness  of  flesh  or  humanity,"  so 
^Hhat  they  twain  are  no  longer  two,  but  one  flesh."  All  this 
manifestly  confines  to  the  one  man  and  the  one  woman  all  the 
peculiar  privileges  of  Marriage. 

This  also  establishes  the  Home  as  the  habitation  and  realiza- 
tion of  the  Family,  which,  as  it  were,  draws  the  line  expressly, 
and  says,  "  Within  this  house  there  shall  be  one  master  and  one 
mistress,  one  husband  and  one  wife :  they  have  given  themselves 
mutually  up  to  one  another,  so  that  the  husband's  interests  are 
no  longer  his,  but  the  wife's — his  pleasures  no  longer  his,  but 
his  wife's — his  profits  no  longer  his,  but  his  wife's;  and  her 
interests,  profits,  and  pleasures  no  longer  her  own,  but  her  hus- 
band's." There  is,  then,  a  mutual  surrender  of  Affections  and 
Interests  by  each  to  the  other  in  the  Home. 

Hence,  the  most  grievous  of  all  injuries  of  one  to  the  other  is 
Adultery,  since  it  terminates  and  destroys,  by  the  law  of  God, 
pronounced  judicially  by  the  StatCy  that  union  «o  entire,  so  intir 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  291 

mate,  and  so  exclusive.  It  is  therefore,  apart  from  the  evils  that 
flow  from  it,  apart  from  its  consequences,  a  crime  of  a  most  ag- 
gravated and  atrocious  nature,  as  breaking  up  and  destroying  an 
union  that  is  for  life  in  all  pleasures  and  interests  and  pursuits. 

And  here  I  must  say,  that  by  the  very  nature  of  the  Union, 
as  existing  in  the  constitution  of  man,  and  by  the  very  nature  of 
Society,  as  being  an  organization  as  real  as  that  of  the  indivi- 
dual, marriage  is  no  mere  "  Civil  Contract,"  the  breach  of  which 
can  be  repaired  by  damages;  but  "Adultery,"  the  violation  of 
the  Marriage  vow  on  the  part  of  man  or  woman,  is  a  crime  that 
deserves  the  infliction  of  punishment — a  crime  in  its  own  nature 
against  the  Nation,  of  the  most  grievous  and  ruinous  kind,  and 
therefore  to  be  punished.  And  by-and-by  all  men  will  come  to 
the  same  opinion. 

It  is  not,  as  foolish  arguers  imagine,  wholly  from  the  Contract 
that  one  is  bound  not  to  commit  Adultery,  as  they  might  con- 
tract to  do  or  not  to  do  any  thing  that  before  that  contract  was 
lawful ;  nor  from  the  law,  so  that  anterior  to  the  law  it  was  part 
of  man's  "  Original  Rights."  Nor  is  it  only  because  of  the  con- 
sequences. But,  anterior  to  all  law  of  man,  the  law  of  Nature 
said  so :  anterior  to  all  notion  of  contract  or  utility,  anterior  to 
all  sense  of  consequences,  the  law  of  God  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery."  And  the  whole  Spiritual  part,  the  Affections, 
the  Conscience,  the  Reason,  the  Will,  all  say  the  same.  The 
nature  of  man  everywhere  accedes  to  and  ratifies  the  law. 

And  even  among  the  most  brute  and  barbarous  races,  the 
sense  and  feeling  of  the  savage  heart  will  receive  it;  and  al- 
though, in  respect  to  his  neighbours,  the  "  Uncontrolledness" 
and  "  Selfishness"  and  "  Sensuality"  that  come  from  want  of 
cultivation  of  the  moral  being  impel  him,  acknowledging  the  law, 
yet  to  break  it,  still,  in  reference  to  himself,  he  shall  feel  its  breach 
most  acutely,  and  confess  the  obligation  to  be  divine.  Until 
finally  the  evils  of  such  a  state,  slaughters  and  savage  feuds  and 
fierce  revenge,  compel  Society,  for  the  sake  of  its  own  interest, 
to  enforce  the  law  according  to  the  dictates  of  nature  and  the 
express  will  of  God. 

But  this  commandment,  adopted  as  it  was  by  our  Lord  with 
the  rest  of  the  decalogue,  was  not  simply  left  in  this  way  in 
reference  to  external  law :  inwardly  it  was  traced  to  its  founda- 
tion in  the  "Sensuality  of  the  Heart;"    and  therein  it  was 


292  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE.    •        - 

branded  witli  the  reprobation  of  the  Almighty  Judge — '^  He  that 
looketh  upon  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  already  committed 
adultery  with  her  in  his  heart;"*  "for /row  within,  out  of  the 
heart  proceed  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  lasciviousness,"t 
&c.  And  again,  "Marriage  is  honourable  in  all,  and  the  bed 
undefiled:  but  whoremongers  and  adulterers,  God  will  judge.  "| 

And  accordingly  the  spiritual  law  excludes,  as  well  as  Unchas- 
tity,  all  things  that  lead  to  it,  all  sensuality,  lasciviousness, 
wantonness ;  and  all  that  may  feed  the  tendency  to  this  sin  or 
be  a  provocation  to  it,  as  luxuriousness  of  diet,  idleness  of  life, 
indulgence  in  inward  voluptuous  thought,  corrupt  company,  las- 
civious and  wanton  books,  obscene  and  filthy  words,  and  gestures 
wanton  and  loose ; — all  these,  as  unchaste  in  themselves,  leading 
directly  to  adulterousness,  and  every  thing  that  in  the  sphere 
of  human  action,  in  thought,  in  word,  or  in  deed,  is  adulterous, 
is  by  the  spiritual  law  of  Christ  forbidden,  as  of  the  same  nature 
with  actual  adultery.  And  this  shall  all  men's  hearts  and 
consciences  tell  them  to  be  true.  And  happy  are  they  that 
act  upon  it,  and  avoid  the  very  beginnings  of  evil :  they  only 
are  secure. 

And  the  consequences  that  follow  from  this  sin  and  crime  to 
individuals,  to  families,  to  nations,  these  consequences  will  ever 
engage,  or,  I  may  say,  force  all  men  to  uphold  the  law  of 
Nature  and  of  God.  The  consequences  are  of  the  worst  kind : 
the  breaking  up  of  the  family,  and  rending  the  heart  of  the  inno- 
cent with  the  most  agonizing  of  all  afflictions ;  the  making  of 
orphans  by  a  worse  bereavement  than  that  of  death,  a  bereave- 
ment that  renders  the  name  of  parent,  that  ought  to  be  a  glory 
and  a  joy,  a  disgrace  and  shame — that  separates  the  children 
from  affection  and  love,  and  connects  disgrace  and  sorrow 
and  a  suspicious  shadow  with  that  household  for  ever.  And 
then  to  the  guilty  party,  if  it  be  a  woman,  strips  her  of  all 
modesty,  all  self-respect,  all  character — sends  her  forth  as  a 
branded  outcast  from  Society,  and  delivers  her  over  almost  cer- 
tainly to  the  foulest  of  all  lives  and  the  most  abandoned  of  all 
deaths ; — and,  if  a  man,  lays  the  foundation  for  all  abasement  of 
character,  and  is  an  easy  stepping-stone  to  all  evil — the  first  step 
in  man's  progress  to  the  most  desperate  villanies,  and  to  that 

*  Matt.  V.  28.  t  Mark  vii.  21.  %  Heb.  xiii.  4. 


THE   HOME  AND  ITS  ATPECTIONS.  293 

depraved  state  of  profligacy  that  scorns  all  public  and  private 
obligation. 

What  wonder  then  that,  in  view  of  all  these  consequences, — in 
view  too  of  the  "  Law"  that  '■''gave  damages"  for  "  lo%%  of  services'^ 
and  "breach  of  contract,"  instead  of  "punishing  for  crime,"  and 
that  with  the  uniformity  and  the  certainty  that  alone  gives  to 
punishment  its  restraining  power, — men,  outraged  in  their  dearest 
rights,  should  take  upon  themselves  revenge  ?  And  then,  that 
other  men, — who  felt,  that  although  the  law  made  it  not  so,  yet 
adultery  is  a  "  crime," — should,  under  the  same  influences  of  feel- 
ing, with  that  of  sympathy  and  of  pity  also,  bring  in  verdicts  of 
insanity  to  excuse  murders  of  revenge  for  adultery  and  seduc- 
tion f  Let  Crimes  be  crimes  upon  our  statute-book, — let  them 
be  visited  with  punishment  adequate,  certain,  and  inevitable,  and 
then  we  shall  have  no  more  such  "  Wild  Justice,"*  and  no  more 
such  verdicts. 

But  to  continue  the  subject.  As  "they  two  are  no  more 
twain,  but  one  flesh,"  it  is  manifest  that  the  tie  of  Marriage 
involves  the  most  complete  mutualness,  if  we  may  use  the  ex- 
pression. And  besides  this,  marriage  is  a  systematic  and  fixed 
mode  of  life,  under  an  external  habitude  and  law ;  wherefore  the 
Roman  Law  rightly  calls  Marriage  "omnis  vitse  consuetudo," 
**of  all  the  life  a  custom  or  habitude." 

Let  us  look  at  these  two  facts : — Herein  is  the  natural  cure 
for  Selfishness ;  for  under  the  Law  of  marriage,  by  the  very  con- 
stitution of  nature,  be  a  man  or  a  woman  as  selfish  as  they  may 
be  originally,  another  "  Self"  is  substituted  which  the  coldest- 
hearted  are  compelled  to  love,  to  feel  for,  to  sympathize  with. 
Nay,  such  is  the  nature  of  this  mystery  of  our  constitution,  that 
even  such  persons  will  feel  a  high  and  pure  pleasure  in  loving 
that  other  unselfishly  and  rendering  her  happy.  Even  of  itself 
by  its  own  nature,  that  is,  apart  from  considerations  of  duty, 
mutual  love  and  mutual  afiection  is  the  law  of  marriage ;  and  he 
that  can,  in  reference  to  his  wife,  remain  "  Selfish,"  and  escape 
from  the  mutualness  of  afiection  that  is  natural  to  this  society, 
must  be  hardened  indeed.  In  all  ordinary  cases,  it  is  a  natural 
cure  and  remedy  of  "Selfishness,"  to  a  certain  and  indeed  a 
very  great  degree. 

*  "  Revenge  is  a  sort  of  wild  justice." — Lord  Bacon. 


294  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

But  with  regard  to  "  Sensuality,"  also,  the  tendency  that  is  to 
make  mere  pleasure  the  object  of  life,  here  too  exists  a  natural 
and  efficient  preservation  against  this,  in  Marriage.  It  takes  an 
individual  apart  from  the  world — it  opens  up  to  him  a  new  life 
and  new  enjoyments.  It  shows  him,  as  it  were,  a  sphere  of  un- 
cloying  pleasures  in  the  domestic  society  of  his  home  and  hia 
fireside.  A  whole  new  world,  as  it  were,  in  the  present  and  in 
the  future,  is  unsealed  to  him ;  and  this  world  is  his,  fenced  in 
and  shut  from  external  intrusion  by  the  Home. 

And  at  once  to  him  it  says — "  To  these  calm  joys  and  uncloy- 
ing  delights  will  you  prefer  the  lascivious  gaudiness  of  theatres, 
the  revelling  of  the  drunkard  and  debauchee,  the  insane  frenzy 
of  the  gambler,  the  filthy  and  abominable  conversation  of  the 
harlot  and  the  prostitute  ?"  From  these,  and  from  their  conse- 
quences— loss  of  character,  destruction,  and  ruin — does  the 
Home  and  its  chaste  pleasures  and  secure  happiness  preserve 
multitudes.  For  because  of  the  mutualness  of  marriage  in  all 
happiness  and  in  all  joys,  as  well  as  in  all  sorrows,  it  is  the  most 
complete  cure  there  is  naturally  for  that  defect  of  the  Heart  that 
consists  in  our  tendency  to  make  mere  pleasure  the  object  of  our 
life ;  which  tendency  we  have  called  "  Sensuality,"  or  the  inclina* 
tion  to  pursue,  as  the  main  object,  the  pleasures  of  "  Sense." 

And,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  the  living  after  a  certain 
habitude  and  way  of  life,  dependent  not  wholly  upon  our  own 
Will,  but  upon  a  multitude  of  other  circumstances  and  laws 
which  all  spring  from  the  words  "Marriage,"  "Family,"  and 
"Home;"  this,  in  most  men,  is  a  very  strong  corrective  of  "Self- 
will,"  or  "  Uncontrolledness." 

So  that  by  the  constitution  of  the  relation,  the  marriage  state, 
in  consequence  of  its  mutualness,  or  identification,  is,  if  we 
may  so  say,  a  sort  of  "Natural  Grace,"  or  help  that  God  has 
given  us  if  we  will  improve  it,  against  the  three  effects  of  "  Origin 
nal  sin"  upon  the  Affections  or  the  Heart.  I  do  not  say  a  per- 
fect or  a  complete  remedy,  but  still  one  that  is  an  aid  more  or 
less. 

And  from  this,  if  we  were  asked  what  are  those  things  that 
wUl  the  most  destroy  the  happiness  of  married  life,  and  turn  the 
most  its  felicity  into  sorrow,  we  say  these  three — "  Selfishness/' 
"Sensuality,"  "Self-will."  They  are  incongruous  to  its  very 
nature,  unsuitable  in  every  way,  elements,  which,  however  evil 


THE   HOME   AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  295 

they  are  elsewhere,  here  hecome  tenfold  more  poisonous,  tenfold 
more  destructive, — being,  to  those  united  in  marriage,  the  very 
elements  and  fountains  of  misery  and  wretchedness,  as  being  in 
their  very  nature  antagonist  to  that  Mutualness  or  complete  reci- 
procal identification  of  all  pleasures,  interests,  affections,  between 
persons  united  in  marriage,  which  results  from  its  very  nature, 
and  may  well  be  counted  the  second  law  of  marriage. 

And  they  that  would  be  happy,  let  them  keep  these  evils  away ; 
let  them  ever  avoid  them,  and  instead  of  thinking  of  "Self"  in 
any  way,  of  will,  of  pleasure,  or  possession,  let  them  think  of  that 
other  "  Self"  whom  God  has  given  them.  And  of  all  possessions, 
all  pleasures,  all  the  objects  of  life,  let  them  make  that  other 
Self  the  end.  So,  by  these  simple  precautions,  shall  much  sor- 
row be  avoided,  and  much  happiness  secured. 

I  do  not  deny  but  that  many  are  able  to  hide  pure  Selfishness 
under  an  appearance  of  carefulness  for  their  families,  and  even 
at  the  time  that  they  appear  the  best  to  the  world,  are  most 
entirely  Selfish.  I  will  admit  also,  that  some  men  are  so  entirely 
Sensual  as  to  look  upon  their  Home  as  a  mere  means  of  syste- 
matic Epicurean  comfort.  Nay,  such  men  will  secretly  calculate 
to  hide  this,  and  to  escape.  But  of  the  Un-house-like  afiections, 
for  such  are  these,  then  the  Family  is  the  true  avenger.  Children 
detect  these  secret  feelings  of  the  Heart.  They  see,  with  a  sub- 
tlety of  discernment  few  imagine  them  to  possess,  whether  a 
father  or  mother  is  Selfish,  or  Self-willed,  or  Sensual.  They 
pierce  through  the  veils  and  wrappings  whereby  these  faults  are 
hidden  from  the  outer  world.  They  discern  the  pretence  of  that 
which  is  claimed,  but  does  not  exist,  the  unreality  of  that  which 
appears.  And  thus  they  are  driven  to  believe  that  these  are  real 
principles  of  action,  and  they  act  upon  them.  Thus,  Selfishness 
in  the  parent,  especially  when  disguised,  begets  Selfishness  in  the 
child;  so  with  Sensuality,  and  so  with  Self-will.  The  natural 
punishment  of  these  offences  in  parents  against  the  law  of  the 
Family,  is  the  same  in  their  children  against  themselves.  Their 
vengeance  is  from  evil  and  rebellious  children.  We  do  say  not 
that  this  is  always  so,  for  there  are  many  cases  in  which  the  good 
are  afflicted  in  this  way.  But  we  will  say,  that  of  these  things  in 
the  family,  this  is  the  natural  result.  And  this  we  say,  that  one 
of  the  wisest  men  we  have  known,  remarked  to  us  that  in  this 
way  he  had  seen  the  Selfish  oftenest  punished, — in  their  families. 


296  CHRISTIAir  SCIENCE.  '"^ 

The  basis,  it  has  been  seen,  and  foundation  of  marriage  is  laid 
upon  the  mystery,  in  us,  of  our  nature, — and  externally  to  us,  upon 
the  law  of  God  corresponding  unto  that  mysterious  constitution 
of  our  being. 

The  qualifications  for  it  are  the  adequate  and  equal  perfection, 
by  training  and  education,  of  all  the  parts  of  the  nature,  the  Spi- 
ritual, the  Mental,  the  Physical.  The  completion  and  perfection 
of  marriage,  as  to  adequacy  of  these  conditions,  is  that  both  should 
have  been  baptized  in  the  "Name*  of  Christ,"  trained  in  the 
Law  of  Christ,  and  obedient  unto  the  Faith  of  Christ.  A  com- 
pleteness this  is  of  the  Spiritual  Nature  that  will  compensate  for 
many  deficiencies,  and  ensure  much  happiness. 

The  laws  then  of  marriage  are  the  laws  of  Permanence  and 
of  MutualnesSjt  from  which  spring  all  its  duties. 

And,  according  to  these  laws,  the  one  cause  of  divorce  is 
Adultery. 

And  the  causes  of  misery  in  marriage  life  are  "  Selfishness," 
"Sensuality,"  and  "  Self- Will ;"  and  the  absence  of  them  a  great 
cause  of  happiness. 

This  synopsis  we  have  here  given  of  the  preceding  contents  of 
this  chapter,  that  our  reader  may  see  the  whole  matter  summed 
up  clearly  and  distinctly  before  we  enter  upon  other  parts  of  the , 
subject,  of  which  we  are  to  speak  less  certainly. 

The  first  of  these  questions  is  this :  "  Upon  what  motive,  and 
upon  what  inducement,  is  a  man  or  woman  to  marry?"  Upon 
this  we  say,  that  the  completeness  and  mutualness  of  the  union 
will  enable  us  to  decide.  The  very  basis  of  marriage  is  "  that 
they  two  are  henceforth  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh."  Should 
there  not  then  be  such  an  agreement  of  affections,  such  a  mutual 
love,  that  the  one  would  give  up  for  the  other  all  things,  as  it 
were,  and  make  the  happiness  of  the  other  the  main  object  and 
end  in  life  ? 

Certainly  it  seems  by  the  very  fact  that  they  two  are  hence- 
forth to  he  one,  that  no  other  motive  or  inducement  should  be 
sufficient  but  that  of  affection  and  love. 

And  this  furthermore  will  be  confirmed  by  the  conclusion 
before  educed,  that  "  Selfishness,"  and  "  Sensuality,"  and  "Self- 

*  The  "  Name"  here  is  something  more  than  the  mere  verbal  appellation. 
t  The  third  law,  that  of  the  Supremacy  of  the  Husband,  I  do  not  here 
touch  upon,  for  plain  reasons. 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  297 

will,"  all  of  these  are  the  most  destructive  of  marriage  happiness, 
and,  therefore,  naturally  before  marriage  are  as  motives  to  be 
excluded ;  this,  therefore,  I  say,  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  measure  of 
the  affection  upon  which,  as  the  highest  and  purest  motive,  one 
may  found  his  desire  for  marriage  and  his  best  prospect  of 
happiness  in  it ;  affection  that  shall  be  entirely  unselfish, — that 
shall  be  unsensual,  seeking  mainly  the  happiness  of  the  other 
instead  of  its  own, — and  steady  and  determinate,  free  from  ca- 
price and  self-will. 

If  a  man  or  a  woman  feel  in  themselves  such  an  affection,  and 
measure  it  thus,  they  may  be  assured  that  this  is  "Love,"  such 
love  as  is  the  highest  and  best  qualification  for  happiness,  and  the 
highest  and  best  motive  for  engaging  in  marriage. 

At  the  same  time,  I  do  not  deny  that  there  may  be  a  multitude 
of  other  subordinate  inducements  upon  which  it  is  morally  right 
to  found  our  motives  for  marriage ;  but  in  all  cases,  whatsoever 
else  there  be,  there  must  be  Affection  as  the  great  and  leading 
motive,"^  and,  if  not,  there  will  afterwards  be  much  unhappiness. 

External  circumstances,  therefore,  such  as  the  natural  taste 
for  female  society,  the  desire  of  companionship,  the  inability  to 
manage  the  cares  of  a  household,  or  in  fact  any  external  cir- 
cumstances not  "selfish"  and  not  "sensual,"  may  induce  man  or 
woman  to  wish  for  marriage,  and  to  move  towards  it.  And  these 
may  be,  and  are  undoubtedly  lawful  and  permissible  motives, 
provided  there  be  real  and  sincere  Affection. 

The  other  question  is,  "  How  far  should  parents  interfere  in 
the  marriage  of  their  offspring  ?"  This  question  is,  within  cer- 
tain limits,  decided  by  the  law,  which,  until  a  certain  age,  ren- 
ders their  consent  necessary.  An  extended  discussion  of  the 
subject  we  do  not  wish  to  enter  into,  as  it  is  rather  a  difficult 
point,  and  one  which  would  take  more  ground  than  we  can  ap- 
propriate to  it.  But  we  shall  give  the  result  of  a  good  deal  of 
thought  upon  the  subject, — the  conclusion,  that  is,  that  we  have 
come  to,  without  the  arguments  that  have  led  us  to  it.  We  think 
that  for  Christian  children,  who  are  not  only  baptized,  but  also 
communicants,  it  will  be  a  very  safe  and  useful  rule  if  they  im- 
pose it  upon  themselves  "  never  to  marry  without  the  full  consent 
of  their  parents ;  always,  that  is,  to  allow  them  a  full  veto  upon 

*  See,  in  the  first  book,  the  doctrine  of  the  Supreme  Good,  or  the  Highest 
Motive. 

88 


298  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

their  marriage."  This,  I  think,  they  will  find  to  be  a  principle 
according  to  the  analogy  of  Christian  faith  and  Christian  practice. 

Another,  and  a  most  important  part  of  the  marriage  relation, 
is  the  relative  position  of  Husband  and  Wife  as  regards  control. 

Now,  manifestly,  if  marriage  be  merely  a  "  Civil  Contract," 
this  shall  be  regulated  in  the  way  that  the  same  question  is 
managed  in  other  "civil  contracts"  or  "copartnerships," — the 
one  that  is  able  to  lead  shall  lead,  and  the  one  that  is  not  able  to 
lead  shall  obey,  in  all  things  that  by  the  contract  are  common ; 
and  in  all  other  things,  each  one  shall  manage  in  his  own  way. 
This  must  be  the  case  under  the  Roman  notion  of  "  two  persons ;" 
"Person"  being  not  merely  an  individual,  but  one  who  has  all 
legal  rights  of  holding  property,  suing  and  being  sued,  &c.  Now 
between  two  "persons"  in  this  sense  entering  upon  "a  Civil 
Contract,"  the  idea,  it  seems  to  me,  of  Obedience  is  very  foolish 
— these  notions  exclude  it  altogether.  The  proper  idea  herein, 
that  is,  the  idea  appropriate  to  these  notions  of  Roman  Law  or 
Heathen  Wisdom,  is  this :  "  I  enter  into  a  contract  with  you ;  I 
fulfil  my  part — do  you  fulfil  yours;  we  are  two  persons  still 
— and  compliance  with  the  terms  of  contract,  this  is  all :  fulfil- 
ment of  the  contract  is  all  that  is  requisite,  and  Obedience  is 
quite  a  different  matter." 

But  the  Common  Law  and  the  Scriptures,  that  teach  that  hus- 
band and  wife  are  "  One  Person,"  and  to  be  "  no  more  twain,  but 
one  flesh,"  resting  as  they  both  do  upon  the  doctrine  of  a  myste- 
rious union, — they  imply  by  these  very  doctrines  that  one  must 
govern  and  one  obey.  They  send  them  not  to  a  civil  contract,  to 
examine  and  decide  upon  their  mutual  rights — they  set  them  not 
up  as  different  "persons,"  to  have  a  diversity  of  interest:  they 
say,  "  You  are  one  person  and  one  interest,  and  one  must  lead 
and  govern  by  your  very  position,  and  one  be  governed." 

Hence  the  Scriptures  are  very  plain  and  manifest  in  their 
directions  to  both  husbands  and  wives  in  this  respect :  "  Wives, 
be  obedient  unto  your  husbands,"*  "The  husband  is  the  head  of 
the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church,  "f  and  so 
forth. 

And  this  decision,  inferior  as  it  may  seem  in  wisdom  to  the 
other,  yet  shall  be  seen  and  felt  to  bo  ultimately  the  wisest ;  for 

*Tit.  ii.  5.  tEph.  v.  23. 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  299 

differences  of  opinion  are  very  likely  to  exist,  and  either  they 
must  be  decided  judicially ^  by  one  out  of  the  society,  or  else  one 
must  yield.  The  first  is  the  Roman  notion ;  the  second,  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine.  And  every  one  knows  how  much  a  separation  of 
interests,  a  debating  upon  them,  a  bringing  in  of  a  person  ex- 
traneous as  a  judge  and  arbiter,  tends  to  render  irreconcilable 
the  disputes  and  dissensions  of  marriage.  Every  one  also  knows 
how  easily  husbands  and  wives,  under  the  influence  of  love*  and 
mutual  respect,  can  yield  the  one  to  the  other.  And  they  who 
look  at  the  different  spheres  of  action  which  Husband  and  Wife 
fill  in  unity  of  life,  and  consider  that  the  connection  is  not  be- 
tweeen  two  men  or  two  women,  but  between  two  of  different 
sexes,  upon  the  whole  nature  of  which  the  difference  is  imprinted, 
and  this  difference  in  nature  manifestly  tending  unto  unity  of 
action,  shall  see  that  to  two  natures  so  adapted  unto  unity,  occa- 
sions of  disagreement  shall  be  infinitely  few,  compared  to  what 
they  would  be  in  those  of  the  same  sex.  The  occasions  then  of 
complete  and  entire  unity  of  action  shall  be  with  them  innume- 
rable— the  occasions  of  dispute  very  few  indeed ;  and,  in  fact, 
with  those  that  love  sincerely  and  entirely,  if  they,  as  we  have 
said,  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  avoid  Selfishness  and  Sensuality 
and  Self-will,  none  at  all.  And  the  husband  shall  maintain  his 
natural  position  of  love  towards  his  wife,  and  the  wife  her  natural 
respect  towards  her  husband,  and  in  these  be,  through  mutual 
and  sincere  love,  entirely  and  completely  happy.  But  to  the 
fulfilment  of  this  conception  of  marriage.  Christian  love  is  a 
necessary  ingredient  of  the  marriage ;  and  having  it,  the  hus- 
band shall  not  act  unjustly,  oppressively,  or  tyrannically  towards 
his  wife  because  he  has  a  right  to  her  obedience,  nor  shall  she 
feel  herself  to  be  wronged  in  that  she  has  promised  to  obey. 

And,  in  truth,  he  that  shall  look  through  life  shall  see  that 
there  are  multitudes  of  facts  that  will  strengthen  the  belief  that 
this  last  doctrine  is  the  true  one ;  of  which  I  shall  mention  only 
two.  The  first  is,  that  the  wife  shall  be  the  last  to  see  her  hus- 
band's faults,  even  when  she  is  the  most  keen-sighted  as  to  those 
of  others.  There  does  seem  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  veil  cast  by 
nature  between  her  and  those  things  the  sight  of  which  would 

*  Here  I  would  be  understood  to  mean  the  natural  affection  Christianized^ 
under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 


300  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

weaken  her  oLedience.  Again,  I  have  noticed  that  the  wife 
shall  feel  and  see  the  husband's  love  to  wane  when  he  is  as 
unconscious  of  it  himself,  and  he  in  reference  to  her  love  shall 
just  be  as  hard  and  dull  of  sight  as  she  of  his  faults.  These 
things  I  have  myself  seen  in  many  cases. 

I  have  remarked  that  love  on  both  sides,  true  and  sincere,  ren- 
ders natural  and  rational  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Supremacy/ 
of  the  husband  and  the  obedience  of  the  wife ;  and  I  believe  it 
will  be  seen  that  it  is  the  doctrine  upheld  by  reason  and  con- 
firmed by  experience. 

But  Christian  faith  and  Christian  holiness,  this  completes  and 
perfects  it — this  alone  is  that  which  completely  and  -entirely 
brings  forth  the  marriage  vow  in  its  beauty,  and  enables  the 
Husband  and  the  Wife  to  estimate  the  marriage  state  as  "Holy," 
"Sanctified,"  "Honourable  in  all."  This  alone  says,  "Hus- 
bands, love  your  wives  as  Christ  loved  the  Church  and  gave  him- 
self for  it:"  this  compares  the  marriage  union  to  that  of  Christ 
and  the  church ;  this,  instead  of  "  Civil  Contract,"  makes  it  a 
vow  before  God,  and  that  a  vow  of  that  which  no  *'  Civil  Con- 
tract" can  prescribe  or  enforce — of  mutual  love,  honour,  obe- 
dience, affection,  respect — in  fact,  love  unselfish  and  unsensual. 
And  a  true  and  sincere  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  a  living 
faith  in  the  heart  and  in  the  life,  these,  when  they  exist,  display 
and  manifest  unto  the  married  the  suitableness  unto  our  nature 
and  the  adaptedness  to  our  happiness  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Gospel  in  reference  to  the  position  of  husband  and  wife. 

But  a  deficiency  in  these  will  naturally  lead  in  the  way  of  the 
other  notion. 

And  for  this  reason  I  should  not  at  all  be  astonished  to  view 
the  gradual  growth  and  prevalence  of  the  Roman-Law  view  of 
marriage,  and  the  decay  of  the  other,  until,  finally,  only  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  may  we  see  those  views  and  that  law  of  mar- 
riage prevail  that  are  peculiarly  Christian.* 

*  I  would  not  be  understood  wholly  to  condemn  the  proceedings  of  the 
Roman  Law.  No.  I  say,  only  Christianity  can  render  the  Common-Law 
doctrine  possible.  While  the  mass  of  the  people,  then,  are  unchristianized 
in  profession  and  in  heart,  there  must  be  recourse  more  or  less  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Civil  or  Roman  Law.  Let  women,  therefore,  in  their  property  be 
protected.  But  let  us  the  clergy,  and  others  who  feel  its  value,  spread  the 
true  doctrine  of  marriage  until  it  again  become  the  sentiment  of  the  whole 
people. 


THE  HOME  AND  ITS  AEFECIIONS.  301 


CHAPTER  rV. 

Law  of  Parents  and  Children. — Not  merely  an  Animal  Relation. — Evils 
arising  from  this  notion. — ^Parents  are  bound  to  Children :  1st,  Corporeal- 
ly ;  for  Maintenance. — ^Limits  of  this  Obligation. — The  State  can  enforce 
it. — ^2d,  Mentally;  for  Education. — Limits  of  this  Right. — The  State  has 
no  Power  of  Religious  Teaching :  of  Moral  Teaching  only  up  to  a  certain 
point. — 3d,  Spiritually;  for  Religious  Educ&tion. — ^The  State  bas  no  right 
in  this  whatever. 

The  relation  of  the  parent  to  the  child  and  of  the  child  to  the 
parent  is  very  simple  indeed,  if  we  look  upon  man  as  an  indivi- 
dual animally  existing,  and  consider  Society  as  having  no  exist- 
ence and  no  rights.  "The  animals  pair  by  the  force  of  one 
instinct,  implanted  in  their  nature  for  that  purpose,  and  so  does 
man."  Here  is  the  Animal  or  Physical  account  of  marriage. 
"  And  by  another  instinct,  the  animals  provide  for  their  young 
until  able  to  provide  for  themselves,  and  so  does  man.  And 
that's  the  end  of  it." 

Now,  I  do  not  say  that  men  precisely  and  distinctly  hold  these 
views ;  but  this  I  do  say,  that  there  are  thousands  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  parents  in  our  land  who  act  upon  these  views, 
and  discharge  themselves,  as  far  as  they  can,  from  all  duties  of 
Education,  of  Religious  Training,  of  Moral  influence  and  super- 
intendence, and,  at  the  bottom,  hold  the  mere  physical  view  that 
the  Home  is  not  sacred,  but  is  the  mere  dwelling-place  of  a  pair 
of  Animals  having  reasoning  powers,  whose  mutual  relation  is 
merely  to  minister  to  one-another's  comfort,  and  who  have  posi- 
tively no  moral  duty,  no  religious,  no  educational  one  to  fulfil  to 
their  offspring — nothing  but  a  mere  physical  one :  that  of  giving 
them  food  and  clothing  until  they  are  able  to  give  it  to  them- 
selves. 

I  say,  too,  that  of  so-called  religious  men,  there  are  multitudes 
who  take  precisely  the  same  views,  who,  upon  any  and  every  pre- 
text, are  ready  to  devolve  upon  others  the  duties  they  themselves 
should  perform  towards  their  children. 


302  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

And  then  have  I  seen  these  parents  unhonoured  by  their  chil- 
dren in  old  age,  unreverenced,  unobeyed.  I  have  seen  the  chil- 
dren despising  the  age  and  infirmity  of  the  parents,  ashamed  of 
their  poverty,  speaking  openly  and  contemptuously  of  their 
errors,  vices  and  infirmities,  froward,  rebellious,  and  disorderly, 
until,  finally,  the  tie  was  severed^ — without  love  and  trust  upon 
the  one  side,  without  gratitude  or  filial  affection  upon  the  other. 
And  then  such  parents  complain.  Wrongly  and  unjustly ;  for 
this  result  they  themselves  did  all  they  could  to  bring  about. 

Man  is  a  threefold  being :  "  Spiritual,"  "  Rational,"  "  Corpo- 
real, or  Animal."  If  you  act  in  the  Home,  towards  children,  as 
a  mere  animal,  then  shall  the  reward  you  obtain  be  nothing  but 
this.  I  do  not  conceive  that  nestlings,  when  grown  to  maturity, 
make  any  difference  between  their  parents  and  other  full-grown 
birds — that  dogs  or  horses,  or  any  other  animals,  have  any  feel- 
ing towards  the  parent  for  a  longer  time  than  they  are  attached 
to  them  by  physical  wants  and  physical  instinct.  And  so  of  all 
other  animals  wherein  that  which  in  man  is  done  by  the  Affec- 
tions is  done  in  them  by  animal  instinct.  There  is  no  gratitude, 
no  love,  no  reverence,  no  respect,  after  the  time  of  growth  is 
past.  Full  growth  and  maturity  of  age  puts  the  parent  upon 
precisely  the  same  ground  as  all  other  animals  of  the  kind. 

But  man  is  a  Spiritual  being  as  well.  His  marriage  is  not  a 
bare  Animal  Union,  but  one  moral  and  spiritual  in  the  highest, 
degree.  His  Home  is  Spiritual  and  Moral  too,  and  parents  have 
Spiritual  and  Moral  duties  to  do.  If  they  do  them  not,  but 
evade  them,  neglect  them,  free  themselves  from  all  obligation  of 
them,  so  that  really  only  the  mere  physical  duty  of  supplying 
food  and  clothing  is  done,  then  the  Animal  result  is  the  conse- 
quence— thanklessness,  disobedience,  neglect,  want  of  respect, 
and  want  of  affection,  upon  the  part  of  children.  I  excuse  them 
not  for  this :  children  of  such  temper  and  conduct  sin  before 
God,  and  are  guilty  because  of  it ;  but  this  I  do  say :  the  sin  of 
the  father  is  the  cause,  bringing  most  certainly,  as  effect,  the  sin 
of  the  children. 

But  let  us  be  clearly  understood,  and  not  misapprehended. 
We  said  not  that  these  merely  animal  duties  and  rights  do  not 
exist.  We  only  say  that  they  are  not  the  only  duties,  so  that  all 
should  be  void  except  these.  The  father,  in  virtue  of  his  three- 
fold existence,  has  duties  merely  and  entirely  physical  towards 


THE   HOMB  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  303 

the  child  as  an  animal ;  hut  these  are  not  all.  There  are,  be- 
sides these  duties,  duties  Intellectual  and  duties  Moral.  Let  us 
look  at  these  three  in  order. 

"  Maintenance"  is  the  first.  "  The  duty  of  parents  to  provide 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  children,"  says  Blackstone,  "  is  a 
principle  of  natural  law,  'an  obligation  laid  on  them,'  says  Puf- 
fendorff,  '  not  only  by  Nature  herself,  but  by  their  own  proper 
act  in  bringing  them  into  the  world.  For  they  would  be  in  the 
highest  degree  injurious  to  their  issue,  if  they  only  gave  children 
life  that  they  might  afterwards  see  them  perish.'  By  becoming 
their  parents,  therefore,  they  have  entered  into  a  voluntary  obli- 
gation to  endeavour,  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  that  the  life  they 
have  bestowed  shall  be  supported.  And  thus  the  children  will 
have  a  perfect  right  to  receive  maintenance  from  their  parents. 
*  *  *  The  Mumicipal  laws  of  all  well-regulated  states  have 
taken  care  to  enforce  this  duty.  Though  Providence  has  done 
it  more  eflfectually  than  any  laws,  by  implanting  in  the  breast 
of  every  parent  that  natural  "  Sropyij,"  or  insuperable  degree  of 
affection,  which  not  even  the  deformity  of  person  or  mind,  not 
even  the  wickedness,  ingratitude,  and  rebellion  of  children,  can 
totally  suppress  or  extinguish."     *     *     * 

"  The  Civil*  law  obliges  the  parent  to  provide  maintenance  for 
his  child,  and,  if  he  refuses,  'Judex  de  ea  cognoscet,'  ('let  the 
judge  take  cognisance  of  the  matter.')" 

Blackstone  then  goes  on  to  show  how  the  Common  law  enacts 
the  same  duty,  and  by  what  measures  it  can  be  enforced.  But 
this  belonging  to  Law  and  not  to  Ethics  we  shall  merely  say  that 
the  principle  is  maintained  by  the  Laws  of  all  countries,  and  dis- 
miss it :  only  remarking  that  the  duty  and  the  right  are  purely 
physical  and  animal,  arising  from  the  fact 'that  the  child  has  a 
body  and  bodily  life,  that  requires  daily  support, — that  this  life 
and  body  he  has  derived  .as  part  of  his  whole  nature  from  his 
parents,  and /row  no  other  individual  or  individuals, — and  that, 
of  himself,  he  is  unable,  in  every  or  any  way  to  support  that  life. 
These  are  the  whole  foundations  of  that  right  and  that  duty, 
both  of  them,  it  is  manifest,  purely  animal,  and  both  done  by  the 
animals  under  the  influence  of  instinct. 

The  duration  of  this  maintenance,  or  rather  of  the  right,  mani- 
festly being  until  the  ofispring  are  perfectly  able  to  support  them- 

*  That  is,  Roman. 


304  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

selves,  is  a  period  depending  upon  many  elements,  and  usually 
settled  by  law.  The  expensiveness  of  it  depending  mainly  upon 
the  ordinary  manner  of  life  of  the  parents,  is  by  this  to  be 
determined.  And  because,  although  it  is  in  and  within  the 
Family,  still,  however,  questions  of  Life  and  Property  are  involved ; 
herein  the  State  comes  in,  and  enforces  by  its  outward  Law  that 
which  the  inward  and  natural  law,  or,  as  it  was  called  by  the 
ancients  oto^y^  (storghe,)  or  natural,  parental,  and  filial  instinct 
prescribes. 

The  parents,  then,  are  bound  to  give  to  their  children  this  main- 
tenance, by  the  law  of  their  own  nature.  The  State,  as  an 
external  institution,  divinely  appointed,  and  having  the  power  of 
protecting  by  law,  rights  of  Life,  and  rights  of  Property,  has 
the  right  to  enforce  and  regulate  this  question  of  maintenance, 
and  to  compel  it  from  parents  that  are  unwilling  to  obey  the  law 
of  their  own  bosoms. 

These,  then,  are  the  first  duties  of  parents,  the  first  rights  of 
children ; — the  physical  and  animal  rights  arising  from  the  body, 
the  rights  of  helplessness  and  inability  to  support. 

And  here  we  shall  remark  that  there  is  a  very  great  difference, 
morally,  between  the  ways  that  these  things  are  done  in ;  of  them- 
selves they  are  merely  Animal,  and  may  be  done  merely  as  such, 
— still  are  they  done.  And  the  same  duties  may  be  done  in  a 
spirit  of  love,  affection,  tenderness  of  feeling,  sympathy;  this 
last  ensures  love  and  gratitude ; — the  first,  ingratitude  and  thank- 
lessness. 

The  same  remark  may  be  made  with  regard  to  all  aid  to  the 
hungry  and  the  miserable.  Bread,  with  pity  and  sympathy,  is  that 
which  ensures  gratitude  and  thankfulness ;  bread,  unblessing  and 
unsympathizing,  is  bread  that  receives  no  thanks. 

But  we  come  to  a  matter  higher  than  the  Animal  duties.  When 
the  bird  or  the  beast  arrives  at  maturity,  then  it  has,  by  its  nature 
full  grown,  the  capacities  to  continue  its  life,  to  acquire  its  food 
by  the  faculties  its  organization  gives  it,  and  in  the  way  that 
organization  requires.  Now  this  is  partly  by  an  unerring  instinct, 
and  partly  by  the  Understanding,  as  instructed  by  experience. 
And  so  we  find  the  parents  give  the  young  the  benefit  of  their  own 
experience,  as  any  one  may  see  who  will  watch  a  parent  bird  with 
her  fledgelings,  or  a  cat  with  her  kittens.  But  mostly  are  they 
left  to  Listinct,  and  to  the  effect  of  that  allotment,  which,  for  the 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  305 

most  part,  causes  animals  to  be  born  in  the  peculiar  region  and 
place  suited  to  provide  them  with  the  support  of  life.  The  work 
of  Education  is  very  small  in  them  indeed. 

But  in  man,  on  the  contrary,  the  Instinct  is  very  small,  and 
the  Understanding,  or  mental  faculty,  very  great.  And  hence 
do  we  see  the  time  during  which  men  are  placed  under  the  direct 
influence  and  guidance  of  their  parents,  to  be  very  long  indeed, 
and  to  bear  a  large  proportion  to  the  whole  of  life,  compared  with 
the  same  period  in  other  animals.  Man's  growth  to  maturity  is 
exceedingly  slow,  the  period  of  subordination  and  parental  con- 
trol exceedingly  long.  That  which  other  animals  learn  by  instinct, 
with  only  brief  hints  from  the  experience  of  parents,  man  learns 
slowly  and  gradually  by  the  process  of  mental  growth  and  mental 
development,  through  experience,  imitation,  instruction,  example, 
emulation,  sympathy. 

Now,  taking  the  Understanding,  or  the  Animal  Reason,  as  that 
whereby  we  reason  and  think  upon  things  visible  and  perceptible 
by  the  senses,  it  will  be  manifest  this  is  the  faculty  that  does  in 
man  what  instinct,  with  a  few  hints  from  experience,  does  for 
the  animal  nature,  when  separated  from  its  parents — enables  it 
to  continue  life,  and  support  itself  after  this  separation. 

There  is  then,  manifestly,  a  duty  bounden  upon  the  parents, 
an  express  obligation  so  to  educate  and  train  the  Mental  Powers 
of  children,  that  they  shall  be  enabled,  after  separation  from 
their  parents,  to  support  themselves  honestly  and  reputably; 
although  the  measures  and  limits  of  this  are  manifestly  very 
indefinite. 

And  the  child  has  a  right  to  that  Education,  and  that  training 
of  its  mental  powers,  and  may  claim  it  by  law,  and  the  law  may 
enforce  it.  And  it  does  do  so,  so  far  that  if  parents  rear  their 
children  as  vagabonds,  or  in  occupations  evil  and  immoral,  the 
Law  will  then  step  in,  take  away  the  children  from  the  parents, 
and  place  them  under  persons  who  shall  give  them  that  training. 

The  parents,  therefore,  are  under  the  obligation  to  give  such 
an  Education.  The  Children  have  a  legal  right  to  it.  The  State 
can  enforce  that  right.  But  still  the  Laws  of  most  nations,  while 
they  acknowledge  the  right,  seem  very  little  to  enforce  it,  save  in 
such  cases  as  those  we  have  mentioned,  or  save  in  the  case  wherein 
a  parent  teaches  his  children  doctrines,  that,  practically,  interfere 
with  Life  and  Property,  and  those  Rights  which  the  State  enforces, 


S06  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  the  Wrongs  that  she  forbids.  If  the  parent  taught  the  child 
systematically  and  practically,  thieving,  murder  or  adultery,  so 
that  the  children  were  instructed  in  these  crimes  as  a  part  of  educa- 
tion, it  seems  that  the  Law  can  step  in  and  put  a  stop  to  such 
Education.  But  with  regard  to  anything  else,  it  seems  the  State 
can  hardly  interfere. 

In  fact,  as  to  the  interference  of  the  State  in  Education,  it 
seems,  as  it  has  the  oflfice  of  establishing  Rights  and  forbidding 
Wrongs,  as  far  as  concerns  Life  and  Property,  so  to  have  the 
negative  power  of  forbidding  all  education  that  shall  train  men 
to  Crime.  Education  in  crime  it  can  forbid;  a  negative  and 
prohibitory  power  it  has  to  prevent  Criminal  teaching,  so  that  it 
can  interfere  to  prevent  men  being  trained  to  break  the  Law,  this 
^fiems  to  be  the  limit  of  the  moral  teaching  of  the  State,  in  regard 
to  parents  and  children. 

But  the  State  cannot  interfere  with  Conscience,  or  with  Reli- 
gion, or  with  the  Morality  taught  by  the  parents  on  any  other 
grounds  than  these.  The  State  has  no  control  over  the  consciences 
of  men.  It  can  neither,  under  the  pretence  of  Union  with  the 
Ohurch,  usurp  to  itself  her  offices  of  religious  teaching,  and 
thereby  make  heresies  crimes,  and  opinions  penal,  and  doctrines 
laws,  and  dogmas  statutes,  and  compel  all  to  religion  by  statutory 
enactments,  and  by  the  sanctions  of  law,  fines  and  imprisonment. 
Nor  can  it  reach  the  same  end  by  a  different  route,  pretending 
that  the  State  is  a  Moral  Teacher,  a  Religious  Institution,  for 
the  purpose  of  instructing  in  religion,  as  the  old  theory  of  Pagan 
Rome,  the  new  theory  of  Dr.  Arnold,  has  it.  The  Church  has 
to  deal  with  Religion,  Doctrine,  and  Spiritual  Government  and 
Instruction :  these  are  her  sphere.  Her  punishments  touch  nei- 
ther Life  nor  Property,  but  are  spiritual.  Sin,  not  Crime,  is  the 
transgression  of  her  law ;  and  although  a  Sin  may  be  a  Crime, 
and  a  Crime  a  Sin,  it  is  only  as  Sinful  that  she  deals  with  it,  not 
US  Criminal. 

In  fact,  the  Church  is  wholly  and  entirely  separate  from  the 
State  by  nature  and  by  the  Law  of  this  land.  Hence,  the  State 
cannot  interfere  with  education  given  by  parents  to  children,  so 
as  to  teach  any  doctrine,  or  to  forbid  any  doctrine  to  he  taught, 
except  that  the  doctrine,  over  and  above  its  character  as  doctrine, 
be  also  criminal.  I  conceive,  then,  the  right  of  the  State  in  inter- 
ference with  the  education  of  children  to  be  such  that,  first,  it 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS   AFFECTIONS.  307 

can  require  an  education  that  will  enable  the  child  in  after-life  to 
get  its  bread  honestly  and  reputably ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  edu- 
cation given  shall  not  be  criminal.  Without  these  limits,  the  State 
cannot  touch  the  Parent  in  his  education  of  his  children. 

Such  an  education  the  child  can  legally  claim  of  the  Parent 
as  a  right :  the  parent  is  bound  to  give  and  the  Law  bound  to 
enforce  it. 

This  is  the  second  class  of  rights  of  Parents  and  Children ; 
what  may  be  called  their  Mental  Rights. 

But  at  the  same  time,  although  the  State  cannot  interfere  to 
enforce  any  above  these  "rights  of  maintenance,"  which  are  cor- 
poreal or  animal,  and  "rights  of  education,"  which  are  mental, 
and  cannot  interfere  as  regards  religion,  still  the  father  and  the 
mother  have  a  Spiritual  Nature,  and  this  puts  them  under  the 
obligation  to  give  a  religious  education,  and  to  instruct  Spirit- 
ually in  every  thing  that  shall  exercise  and  bring  to  maturity  the 
Conscience,  the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  Affections,  the  Will.  The 
training  of  these  powers  in  the  children,  this  is  Religious  and 
Moral  Education  ;  and  the  parents  are  bound  to  this  by  the  Law 
of  Grod  and  the  Moral  Law  of  their  position.  For  the  Family  is 
a  Moral  and  Religious  institution  by  its  very  constitution ;  and 
the  parents  who  are  deficient  in  this  culture  are  deficient  in  the 
duties  of  their  position.  And  the  children,  too,  by  the  Law  of 
God  and  by  their  position,  have  the  right  to  this  Spiritual  Educa- 
tion,— are  by  their  position  fitted  to  receive  it,  and  have  by  their 
nature  capabilities  for  it  that  they  never  have  at  any  other  period 
of  their  lives. 

So  that  the  whole  obligation  of  parents,  human  and  divine, 
shall  correspond  to  the  three  parts  of  nature,  and  be  three  in 
number:  Maintenance — Mental  Cultivation — Religious  or  Spi- 
ritual Cultivation.  These  three  must  go  on  simultaneously ;  and 
without  fulfilling  these  three,  the  duty  of  the  parent  to  the  child 
shall  not  be  completely  and  entirely  done ;  nor,  without  this, 
shall  the  fulness  of  the  relation  be  felt  and  acted  upon  by  either 
parent  or  child. 

We  purpose  to  follow  out  these  remarks  by  some  observations 
upon  the  spiritual  and  moral  education  of  children  by  their 
parents,  which  will  be  most  conveniently  discussed  in  another 
chapter. 


308  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Eight  of  the  Child  to  a  Spiritual  Training,  from  its  being  always  a  Moral 
Being,  and  from  the  Needs  of  its  Nature. — That  Right  extends  to,  1st,  Di- 
rect Instruction  as  to  its  own  Nature  and  Position,  i.  e.  Ethical  Teaching — 
2d,  As  to  the  Nature  of  God,  i.  e.  Religious  Teaching — 3d,  Personal  Sanc- 
tity in  the  Father  and  Mother — 4th,  Practical  Guidance  and  Governance — ■ 
5th,  Baptism,  or  Covenant  with  God. — The  Perfection  of  the  Home  is 
Love. 

We  have  shown,  in  the  last  chapter,  the  claims  of  the  child 
upon  the  parent  in  reference  to  the  Body  and  the  Mental  Powers. 
In  this,  we  shall  examine  his  rights  in  relation  to  his  Spiritual 
being. 

Now,  the  claim  for  bodily  Maintenance,  the  claim  for  educa- 
tion of  the  mental  powers,  these  come  from  the  needs  of  the 
child — his  having  faculties  which  require  them ;  the  situation  of 
the  parent  producing  at  once  the  responsibility  and  the  capability 
of  fulfilling  that  responsibility.  These  four, — on  the  part  of  the 
child,  \h.Q  faculties  and  their  needs — on  the  part  of  the  parent, 
the  duty  and  the  capability, — ^manifestly  are  the  foundation  of 
the  natural  right  of  the  child  and  the  obligation  of  the  parent  in 
reference  to  the  supply  of  bodily  food  and  of  mental  training. 

Let  us  take  the  child,  then ; — and  long  before  the  mental 
powers  awake,  there  is  in  it,  alive  and  vigorous  in  its  being,  the 
sense  of  Right  and  Wrong.  This  sense  the  Conscience  awakens 
as  an  instinct,  at  the  slightest  hint.  The  Will  is  seen  in  the 
mere  child ;  the  Spiritual  Reason,  too ;  and,  chiefly,  the  Affec- 
tions. The  whole  experience  of  the  Human  Race  manifests  that 
at  that  precise  period  when  the  mental  powers,  owing  to  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  frame  and  the  corresponding  feebleness  of 
the  brain,  are  weakest  and  most  unsuitable  to  exertion  or  to 
training,  then  are  these  most  susceptible  of  impression,  most 
capable  of  emotion.*     So  much  so,  indeed,  that  men  shall  often 

*  All  physicians  of  knowledge  or  eminence  are  now  well  agreed  upon  the 
doctrine  that  mental  education  begun  before  tho  seventh  year  is  of  itself 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  309 

look  back  with  feelings  of  wonder,  and  almost  of  awe,  to  the 
high  and  radiant  glory  that  they  feel  to  have  shed  its  beams 
upon  their  infant  soiil, — the  glow,  undoubtedly,  of  the  moral 
powers  in  their  first  awaking.  Of  this  emotion  in  the  child, 
Wordsworth  the  poet  speaks  in  his  celebrated  ode : — 

"  There  was  a  time  when  meadow,  grove,  and  stream, 
The  earth,  and  every  common  sight, 

To  me  did  seem 
Apparell'd  in  celestial  light. 
The  glory  and  the  freshness  of  a  dream- 
It  is  not  now  as  it  hath  been  of  yore, — 
Turn  wheresoe'er  I  may. 
By  night  or  day. 
The  things  which  I  have  seen  I  now  can  see  no  more : 
The  rainbow  comes  and  goes. 

And  lovely  is  the  rose. 
The  moon  doth  with  delight 
Look  round  her  when  the  heavens  are  bare ; 
Waters  on  a  starry  night 
Are  beautiful  and  fair ; 
But  yet  I  know,  where'er  I  go. 
That  there  hath  pass'd  away  a  glory  from  the  earth.*' 

This  glory,  which  the  great  poet  so  justly  and  beautifully  attri- 
butes to  infancy  and  childhood,  we  recognise  as  the  first  awaking 
glow  of  the  moral  afi^ctions  of  the  child,  demanding  that  spiritual 
food  and  support  to  them  which  the  parent  is  authorized  to  give  ; 
that  training  which  they  are  then  best  qualified  to  receive. 

highly  destructive,  as  prematurely  exciting  the  nervous  system,  and  laying 
the  foundation  for  many  diseases.  The  physiological  considerations  upon 
which  this  is  founded,  I  omit.  I  shall  only  remark  that  this  hot-bed  forcing 
of  the  childish  mind  into  premature  action,  produces  mental  feebleness  in 
advancing  years ;  and  in  many  cases  it  causes  mental  oddity  and  distortion ; 
just  as  the  forcing  a  young  tree  to  bear  fruit  before  its  maturity,  stunts  and 
dwarfs  it.    Ko  child  should  learn  a  letter  of  the  alphabet  before  seven  years  of  age. 

People,  then,  will  say.  What  shall  we  do  with  them  ?  Shall  we  give  them 
no  education  till  then  ? 

I  say,  there  is  an  education  that  dwarfs  not  the  infant  mind,  but  invigo- 
rates its  powers  and  enlarges  its  calibre — the  training,  that  is,  of  the  moral 
faculties.  At  that  time  of  life,  parents  are  teachers  of  God  appointed,  to  thai 
end  ;  and  vivorvoce  moral  teaching  is  worth  ten  times  all  the  reading  done  be- 
fore that  age  by  children  even  of  the  most  cultivated  mental  powers.  This, 
I  conceive,  is  answer  enough  to  the  objection.  The  parent  will  find  the 
eabject  further  carried  out  in  the  text. 


310  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Nor  need  the  "glory  pass  away,"  if  the  parent  walk  himself 
in  the  faith  of  things  Unseen  and  Eternal ;  if  the  child  be  trained 
by  him  to  walk  in  the  "  light  of  heaven,"  and  "  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Almighty ;"  if  the  Home  be  a  sanctified  temple  and  dwell- 
ing-place of  God's  presence  and  his  teachings.  Then,  indeed, 
the  eye  of  the  child  would  in  all  things  continue  to  see  the  "  Glory 
of  the  Unseen  God,"  and  not  the  external  world  alone  be  "appa- 
relled in  celestial  light;"  but  from  youth  to  age  the  human  being 
so  trained  would  walk  through  life,  canopied  by  the  light  from 
that  unspeakable  glory  ;  crowned  with  a  halo  and  a  radiance  of 
moral  beauty  that  we  see  in  few  at  the  present  day. 

In  few, — because,  though  some  appreciate  the  value  of  giving 
Education  to  their  children,  and  almost  all  feel  the  necessity  of 
supplying  bodily  Maintenance,  yet  very  few  seem  to  know  that 
there  is  a  Spiritual  faculty  in  man,  that  that  faculty  needs  educa- 
tion, and  that  the  Parent  is  the  Teacher  of  that  faculty  appointed 
by  God,  with  peculiar  privileges,  peculiar  powers  and  abilities, 
unto  that  purpose  adapted,  which  he  can  exercise,  and  no  one  else. 

Now,  the  child  has  a  Conscience  even  from  its  birth, — just  as 
it  has  mental  and  bodily  powers  that  will  enable  it,  where  they 
are  duly  trained,  to  obtain  a  livelihood  in  mature  years.  The 
parent  is  counted  cruel  that  does  not  so  train  these  powers  as  to 
fulfil  their  end.  What  shall  we  say  of  him  who  trains  them,  but 
trains  not  the  sense  of  Right  and  Wrong,  or  so  perverts  it  by  his 
own  negligence  that  it  is  by  the  child  neglected  or  despised? 
What  but  this,  that,  whether  he  intended  it  or  no,  he  has  sent  out 
his  child, — without  an  internal  principle — to  do  evil ;  and  sooner 
or  later  to  fall  upon  that  external  law  of  God  and  man  that  for- 
bids evil  by  penalty  and  suflfering  ?  The  man  who  permits  his 
child  to  pass  into  life  with  a  conscience  not  educated  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power,  that  man  prepares  for  his  children  countless  miseries, 
— and  the  man  who  trains  it,  happiness  to  an  untold  extent. 

And  he  who  trains  them  in  the  high  and  lofty  truths  that  come 
from  God's  being,  and  teaches  them  in  childhood  to  appropriate 
these  to  themselves,  to  walk  in  and  by  them  as  moral  principles, 
how  much  is  he  to  be  praised,  compared  with  the  man  who  either 
positively,  by  actual  precept,  or  by  example  in  his  house,  instructs 
his  children  that  there  is  no  moral  principle  or  moral  truth,  but 
that  all  a  man  has  to  do  is  to  make  the  most  of  the  world  in  a 
moderately  selfish  and  sensual  way  ?     Does  not  the  one  teach 


THE  HOME  AND  ITS  AFFECTIONS.  311 

moral  truth,  the  other  moral  falsehood  ?  And  has  a  parent  any 
right  thus  to  corrupt  the  Spiritual  Reason  of  his  child  more  than 
he  has  a  right  to  destroy  his  Body  or  his  Mind  ? 

Again,  in  reference  to  the  Heart — half  the  miseries  of  life  come 
from  Selfishness,  Sensuality,  Self-will:  have  the  Parents  of  a 
feeble  babe  any  more  right  to  leave  the  child  unprotected  from 
these,  untaught  and  untrained  in  reference  to  these,  than  they 
have  to  permit  the  body  to  be  devoured  by  wild  beasts  ? 

Let  such  persons  look  at  a  miserable  Byron, — look  how  Selfish- 
ness, Sensuality,  and  Self-will  tortured  him  through  his  whole 
life ;  look,  then,  at  the  character  and  temper  of  his  mother,  and 
I  think  that  it  will  be  very  manifest,  that  her  teaching  and  exam- 
ple was  such  as  to  cherish  all  these,  and  that  a  difierent  mother 
would  have  produced  difierent  results.  And  then,  looking  at  the 
natural  nobleness  of  temper  that  he  seems  to  have  had  originally , 
it  would  appear  that  the  infant,  and  the  boy,  and  youth  had  a 
right  to  a  direct  training  of  the  Afiections  which  would  have  pre- 
vented these  things ;  and  that  because  he  went  forth  with  these 
untrained  and  untaught,  therefore  he  spent  his  life  in  a  fiery 
agony  and  storm  of  Self-will,  and  Sensuality,  and  Selfishness. 

So  might  I  go  on  and  show  that  each  child  has  upon  its  parents 
the  right  and  claim  to  a  proper  development  and  education  of  its 
moral  powers ;  and  that  no  parent  ever  sends  forth  a  child  in  this 
respect  uneducated,  without  being  the  cause  of  great  misery  to  it. 

But  I  think  there  is  no  further  need  or  necessity  of  illustrating 
it  any  more.  My  first  two  propositions  I  consider  all  men  will 
acknowledge — 1st,  that  "children  have,  from  the  earliest  years. 
Moral  Faculties  which  require  education ;"  and  2dly,  "  that  phy- 
sical maintenance,  and  physical  training,  and  mental  education, 
are  not  that  Spiritual  Education,  hut  entirely  distinct  from  it,  so 
that  one  may  he  mentally  educated  to  the  very  highest  degree  of 
cultivation,  and  have  no  spiritual  education  at  all." 

This  Moral  Education,  then,  the  child  has  the  faculty  for, 
because  he  has  a  Moral  Nature  that  requires  and  needs,  yea,  and 
yearns  for  it,  and  searches  after  it.  And  the  man  is  not  perfect 
as  a  man  without  it ;  going  forth  into  life  without  it,  he  goes  forth 
halt,  and  maimed,  and  imperfect,  as  he  would  if  he  went  forth 
with  a  limb  of  his  body  incapable,  or  a  sense  destroyed,  or  a 
mental  faculty  decayed.  The  child  from  earliest  years  has  a 
Moral  Nature  capable  of  a  peculiar  moral  education,  which  is  dis- 


812  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

tinct  from  mental  education ;  and  the  needs  and  nature  of  Man's 
life  and  of  Society  demand  that  training  to  the  future  man  from 
his  parents. 

Now,*  admitting  these  two  primary  assertions  to  be  true, — that 
the  child  has  moral  faculties,  and  that  they  require  and  need  a 
peculiar  training, — what  shall  be  the  Spiritual  or  Moral  education 
the  child  has  a  right  from  the  parents  to  claim  ? 

Manifestly,  the  answer  shall  be,  first,  a  proper  training  and 
development  of  the  faculties  themselves  ;  such  an  education  of  the 
Moral  Powers  as  shall  strengthen,  invigorate,  establish  them  in 
due  operation,  correct  their  faults,  and  supply  their  deficiencies ; 
this  in  reference  to  the  faculties  themselves.  Secondly,  in  refer- 
ence to  their  action,  the  supplying  them  externally  with  the 
proper  objects. 

We  may  compare  these  two  ends  of  Spiritual  education  in  this 
way : — With  the  body, — the  stomach,  for  instance,  is  the  organ  of 
digestion ;  you  can  strengthen  it,  considered  as  an  organ,  as  to 
its  health,  its  tone,  its  action : — this  will  correspond  to  the  one 
kind  of  education  of  the  Moral  faculties.  And  then  you  can 
supply  it  with  healthy  and  digestible  food,  in  certain  measures 
and  after  certain  laws  : — this  supply  of  nutriment  will  correspond 
to  the  other.  A  Parent,  then,  we  consider,  is  bound,  first,  to^ 
strengthen  and  develope  the  Moral  Powers  of  his  child;  and, 
secondly,  to  supply  those  powers  with  suitable  and  appropriate 
nutriment. 

With  regard  to  the  first  obligation,  is  there  a  true  doctrine  of 
Man's  Nature  and  Position,  or  is  there  not  ?  As  there  are  cer- 
tain internal  principles  of  physical  being  that  belong  to  the 
nature  of  the  dog,  the  horse,  the  elephant,  which  when  you 
know,  you  know  their  nature  and  the  way  in  which  that  nature 
works  upon  external  things ;  is  it  so  with  man  ?  Has  he  an 
internal  constitution,  with  internal  faculties  of  Body  and  Soul 
and  Spirit,  which  are  the  same  Internal  Nature,  corporeal,  men- 
tal, and  spiritual,  in  all  men — in  all  to  work  in  the  same  way 
upon  the  external  world  ? 

Surely,  if  this  be  so,  the  first  duty  of  the  parent  is  to  appeal 
to  that  Internal  Nature, — to  manifest  it, — to  teach  the  solution 
of  its  various  problems  to  the  child, — and  to  trust  for  the  proof 
to  the  nature  itself.  By  the  very  fact  that  man  has  an  Internal 
Nature,  and  that  Nature  is  the  same  in  all,  there  must  be  one, 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  313 

and  only  one  true  doctrine  of  Nature  and  Position;  and  the 
highest  and  chiefest  of  all  duties  of  the  parent  is  to  convey  that 
doctrine  to  the  child,  and  its  solution  of  the  various  problems 
which  to  every  one  each  part  of  that  Nature  suggests. 

For,  as  I  have  remarked,  most  of  the  moral  errors  at  present 
in  vogue  in  the  world  arise  from  misinterpretation  of  facts  and 
problems  of  our  nature :  and,  indeed,  when  we  look  at  the  two- 
foldness  of  all  Moral  facts,  we  find  it,  we  may  say,  perfectly  im- 
possible for  a  person  wholly  untaught  to  give  a  right  solution  of 
them. 

For  instance,  here  is  the  "  Conscience,"  as  shown  in  the  second 
book  of  this  volume.  There  are  two  clear  and  equally  distinct 
impressions  naturally  of  it ;  the  first,  that  it  is  fallible ;  the 
second,  that  it  is  infallible ;  the  one  as  strong  as  the  other.  It 
would  seem  that  here  is  a  very  difficult  problem.  And,  indeed, 
if  you  look  at  what  it  has  resulted  in,  you  find  that  to  men  un- 
taught in  youth,  the  solution  is  generally  hy  rejecting  one  or  the 
other  as  untrue.  And  the  practical  result  has  been,  in  one  class  of 
persons,  the  making  of  the  faculty  a  God,  without  any  reference 
to  Jehovah  or  his  Law ;  or,  secondly,  the  rejecting  altogether 
the  Conscience,  and  the  denying  its  existence.  The  true  solution 
being  that  deduced  from  revelation,  as  in  the  second  book :  "  It 
is  fallible  so  far  as  it  is  a  faculty  of  the  man,  an  eye  seeing  the 
light,  an  ear  transmitting  the  voice ;  but  infallible  so  far  as  it  is 
the  Light  of  God's  Word,  so  far  as  it  is  the  voice  of  God's  Spirit. 
Fallible  and  infallible  !  When  governed  by  the  Law  of  God, 
habitually  obeyed  under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  morally 
infallible ; — but  outside  these  influences,  fallible,  and  the  more  so 
from  its  very  loftiness."  Is  not  this  problem  one  which  is  of  our 
nature, — comes  up  to  every  man  sooner  or  later, — is  impossible 
almost  to  be  solved  without  teaching, — and  yet  is  absolutely 
needful  to  know  t  Surely,  the  fact  that  man  has  a  Moral  Na- 
ture that  is  one,  implies  one  solution^  one  teaching^  and  the  need 
of  that  one  teaching. 

Again,  look  at  the  Heart.  The  Scriptures  tell  us  that  the 
Heart  is  the  source  of  all  evil.  We  feel  this  to  be  true :  we  feel 
it  also  to  be  the  source  of  the  highest  moral  good.  Two  contra- 
dictories, seemingly,  again ;  and,  as  in  the  other  case,  the  source, 
jn  a  practical  way,  of  much  evil ;  and  yet  both  meeting  in  one, 

40 


314  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

and  both  true,  and  reconciled  only  by  a  true  and  high  scriptural 
philosophy  of  our  nature. 

But  I  may  refer  back  to  the  antecedent  pages  of  this  treatise, 
to  manifest  the  truth  I  am  now  illustrating, — to  show  that  our 
Nature  is  full  of  the  hardest  problems,  the  most  contradictory, 
rising  up  of  themselves  in  all  men,  and  solved  only  by  a  high 
Christian  philosophy — the  philosophy  of  Faith  and  Hope  and 
Love — a  philosophy  that  is  one,  because  the  Church  is  one,  and 
Human  Nature  is  one,  and  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  are 
one — and  therefore  is  to  be  seen,  more  or  less,  in  the  Church,  in 
all  ages,  as  Her  solution  of  the  problems  of  our  nature  and  situa- 
tion. In  Augustinus,  the  African,  of  the  fourth  century,  in 
Gregory,  the  Roman,  of  the  seventh,  in  the  church  of  Egypt,  of 
Constantinople,  of  Greece,  of  the  whole  world,  in  all  ages  and 
times,  this  one  Ethics  is  everywhere  visible.  This  the  Christian 
view  of  Human  Nature,  I  conceive,  should  be  taught  by  every 
parent  to  every  child.  What  is  man's  Nature  ?  what  Conscience  ? 
what  Reason?  how  binding?  how  guiding?  All  the  proper 
ethical  knowledge  that  is  necessary,  could  be  taught  within  a 
small  compass,  and  very  easily,  even  to  the  young,  and  would 
make  up  a  branch  of  education  hitherto  very  little  touched 
upon, — the  "Doctrine  of  man's  Nature  and  Position." 

I  conceive,  then,  that,  as  a  part  of  the  Spiritual  Education  for 
which  all  parents  are  responsible  to  their  children,  one  of  the 
first  requisites  is  this,  to  instruct  them  in  the  "  doctrine  of  their 
own  nature  and  position." 

And  corresponding  to  this  system  of  truths  of  man's  nature, 
is  the  system  of  "  truths  of  the  nature  of  God,"  or  the  truths  of 
revealed  religion,  which  explain  and  illustrate  the  others,  and 
upon  which  all  truly  scientific  elucidation  of  those  others  de- 
pends. So  that  would  it  seem  that  there  is  not  a  subjective  truth 
of  the  nature  of  man,  that  has  not  corresponding  unto  it  some 
objective  truth  of  revelation  that  illustrates,  confirms,  teaches  it, 
and,  being  in  this  relation,  sheds  a  flood  of  light  over  it.  Hence, 
in  reference  to  man's  Spiritual  Being,  the  parent  is  bound  to 
teach  the  truths  of  religion  and  Christianity  in  their  fulness  and 
completeness,  as  corresponding  to  and  harmonizing  with  the  Spi- 
ritual nature  of  the  child. 

And  so,  for  his  moral  nature,  shall  he  supply  him  with  high 


THE   HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  315 

and  holy  precepts  and  laws,  ■which  the  child  will  feel  and  know 
to  be  in  accordance  with  his  Nature,  its  necessities  and  uses. 

But  there  is  more  than  this :  Mental  or  verbal  teaching  is  not 
always  moral  teaching.  To  act  upon  a  moral  truth  is  to  learn  it 
— to  cause  to  act  is  to  teach ; — hence,  the  relation  of  the  child  to 
the  parent  in  the  Home,  demands  of  the  parent,  first,  that  his 
own  life  he  holy  and  true.  Moral  teaching  that  is  merely 
verbal  will  not  do ;  as  for  a  parent  in  the  Home  to  act  is  to  teach. 
Children  are  taught  by  actions :  if  holy,  just,  sober,  true,  honest, 
holiness,  justice,  sobriety,  truth,  honesty,  are  taught ;  and  so  of 
the  contrary. 

Thus  children  may  be  educated  spiritually,  by  their  parents 
first  acting  themselves,  then  causing  them  to  act,  upon  principles 
of  true  morality ; — causing  them  to  act  first,  and  then  trusting 
that  expanding  mental  powers  and  increasing  experience  will 
manifest  the  truth  of  the  principles. 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  Child  has  a  claim  upon  the  Parent 
for  sanctity  in  his  own  life  and  sanctity  in  the  Some ;  and  not 
only  for  instructibn,  but  also  for  guidance  and  governance  in  the 
ways  of  true  morality. 

And  then,  if  Baptism  be  not  merely  a  sign  of  profession,  but 
also  a  seal  of  the  Covenant  of  Faith — a  "means  of  grace,"  as 
the  Church  holds  it,  so  that  "by  baptism  we  are  members  of 
Christ,  children  of  God,  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven," — 
if  this  be  so,  and  the  faith  of  parents  can  place  the  children  in 
covenant  with  the  Incarnate  Word,  through  the  Life-giving  Spirit, 
then  is  the  parent  bound,  by  the  Spiritual  nature  and  wants  of 
the  child,  to  secure  to  it  that  blessing  of  being  consecrated  unto 
God  in  the  "name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost;"  and  thereby  unto  them,  as  the  Elect  of  God, 
assuring  the  teaching  of  God's  providence,  "  so  that  all  things 
shall  work  together  for  good  to  them ;"  assuring  to  them  the 
Redeeming  influences  of  the  Son ;  and  the  instruction  and  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  and  Infinite  Spirit  upon  the  spirit  of  the  child ; 
the  Spiritual  teachings,  too,  of  the  Church  of  God,  with  all  its 
ministries,  from  Angel  and  Archangel,  Cherubim  and  Se- 
raphim, in  heaven,  downward  unto  the  ministration  of  God's 
Church  and  ministers  on  earth.  All  these  benefits  is  the  parent 
bound  to  procure  for  his  children.  And  all  these  are  consum- 
mated and  completed  through  the  parent's  faith  and  vows,  and  by 


316  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

the  dedication  solemnly  by  Baptism  of  the  child  unto  God, — the 
bringing  of  it  thus  within  the  Church,  the  fold  of  God's  Elect. 

But  upon  this  point  of  Christian  morality,  having  already,  in  a 
separate  treatise  more  than  once  referred  to,  discussed  this  sub- 
ject, I  shall  direct  my  reader's  attention  to  it,  merely  remarking 
that  therein  the  right  of  the  infant  to  baptism,  and  the  effects  of 
it  in  sanctifying  the  Home,  are  fully  examined. 

Here,  then,  is  the  last  right  of  children  upon  parents — ^the 
right  of  being  dedicated  to  God  by  the  formal  act  of  their 
parents.  And  from  it,  how  many  consequences  flow ! — the  right 
that  they  should  be  trained  up  in  His  name  and  His  word, — that 
his  Law  should  be  made  the  rule  of  their  lives, — that  the  "Written 
Word  should  be  their  study, — that  the  Home  should  be  a  Sanc- 
tified temple  of  God's  presence  and  graces,  and  not  a  mere  abid- 
ing-place to  eat  and  drink  in,  but  a  temple,  wherein  father  and 
mother  shall  be,  as  it  were,  "priests  and  kings,"  sanctified 
teachers  and  sanctified  governors  of  their  household  in  Christ 
perpetually !' 

This  is  the  last  claim  the  Child  has  upon  the  Parent ;  and  this 
claim  is  verified  and  established  by  all  parts  of  the  human  nature 
of  the  child,  which  cry  aloud  for  such  a  consecration;  and  are 
then,  and  then  only,  placed  in  their  proper  position  towards  man 
and  God,  when  so  dedicated,  so  united  in  covenant  to  the  Eternal 
Son  through  the  Eternal  Spirit.  This  is  the  highest  teaching 
to  the  Spiritual  Nature,  and  the  most  complete  and  perfect  edu- 
cation that  its  faculties  and  its  necessities  require  and  demand. 

And  for  them  who  have  placed  their  children  in  this  position, 
and  then  themselves  have,  through  the  sense  of  their  responsi- 
bility and  the  grace  of  God  aiding  them,  lived  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  their  position, — for  them  we  have  seen  the  highest 
grace  of  the  Christian  Home  to  ensue, — the  "living  in  Love." 
We  have  seen  them,  not  by  constraint  nor  compulsion,  not  by  the 
interposition  of  any  Human  Law,  but  by  disinterested  Love  and 
unselfish  devotion,  fulfilling  all  duties,  gladly  and  rejoicingly. 

And  from  this  spirit  of  Love  in  parents,  we  have  seen  the 
spirit  of  affection  and  love  arise  on  the  part  of  the  children. 
And  we  have  seen  that  all  legal  thoughts  of  right  on  the  one  part 
and  obligation  on  the  other  have  ceased  to  have  any  influence — 
the  affection  of  parents  to  children,  and  of  children  to  parents, 
joyously  and  overflowingly  fulfilling  all  duty,  almost  without 


THE  HOME  AND   ITS  AFFECTIONS.  317 

feeling  it.  So  that  here  we  have  seen  the  truth  that  "  Love  is 
the  fulfilling  of  the  law;"  and  all  its  duties  are  done  through  no 
external  compulsion,  but  by  that  internal  principle  that  makes 
them  all,  pleasures  and  springs  of  happy  feeling. 

This,  then,  we  count  the  perfection  of  the  relation  of  parents 
to  children  and  of  children  to  parents,  of  wives  to  husbands  and 
of  husbands  to  wives — the  perfection  of  the  Christian  Home : — 
that  all  within  it  be  sanctified  and  duly  dedicated  unto  God,  and 
live  up  to  the  sum  and  completion  of  their  profession — that  is, 
live  in  Christian  Love :  the  completion,  not  only  of  all  happi- 
ness, but  of  all  Christianity. 

And  this  being  done  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  Faith,  we  fear 
not  that  love,  and  honour,  and  reverence,  and  gratitude,  and 
respect  will  flow  forth  naturally  from  the  child  unto  the  parent, 
— that  children  so  educated  will  feel  the  truth  and  incumbency 
of  the  precept,  "  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that  thy 
days  may  be  long  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given 
thee." 

Our  readers  may  then  say,  "  But  cannot  parents  and  children, 
apart  from  religion,  live  in  a  state  of  love  ?" 

In  respect  of  this  we  say,  that  the  feeling  is  natural  to  the 
heart  of  man,  a  natural  affection,  and  so  comes  forth  naturally 
from  parent  to  child,  and  from  child  to  parent :  and  so  we  do  not 
deny  but  that  natural  affection  may  exist  in  a  very  great  degree  ; 
but  not  to  that  degreevfe  have  spoken  of;  never  to  that  perfection. 

And  that  for  this  simple  reason  that  our  Nature,  made  in  God's 
image,  only  obtains  its  completion  and  perfection  when  in  direct 
covenant  with  the  Almighty  Father,  through  his  Son,  the  Media- 
tor,— and  therefore  directly  taught  and  trained  and  formed  by  the 
Grace  of  his  Holy  Spirit. 

With  this  remark  we  shall  end  this  book,  having  brought  the 
duties  of  the  Home  upward,  until  we  have  seen  in  it,  as  in  all 
else  that  concerns  Man's  Nature,  that  duty  is  perfected  by  reli- 
gion, and  Nature  is  crowned  by  Grace. 


BOOK  VI. 
THE   HUMAN   WILL. 


CHAPTER  L 


Arguments  upon  the  Will  generally  mere  thorny  quibbles. — The  opinion  of 
Milton  to  this  effect. — Censure  upon  its  harshness. — The  opinion  of  Bishop 
Beveridge. — The  sentiments  of  Hooker  as  to  the  Will  of  God  and  the 
nature  of  His  Decrees. — St.  Augustine,  his  character  and  temper. — Two 
ideas  held  by  him  to  be  connected,  Grace  and  Predestination. — These 
are  not  so  connected  naturally. — Evil  consequences  on  both  sides  of  taking 
it  to  be  so. — The  Theological  Controversy  waived. — The  Will  discussed  as 
a  faculty  of  our  nature. 

In  the  works  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  there  occurs  an  argument  to 
prove  that  God  has  a  body, — is,  in  other  words,  material,  which 
the  great  Schoolman  states  gravely,  and  then  as  gravely  refutes. 

It  is  from  a  passage  in  the  book  of  Job,  which  reads  thus : 
"  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?  Canst  thou  find  out 
the  Almighty  to  perfection  ?  He  is  as  high  as  heaven,  what 
canst  thou  do  ?  Beeper  than  hell ;  what  canst  thou  know  ?  The 
measure  thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth,  and  broader  than  the 
sea."* 

Therefore,  says  the  ingenious  fool  whom  Thomas  refutes,  "  God 
has  length,  breadth,  and  thickness,  (depth  or  height,) — these  are 
expressly  attributed  to  him  in  the  passage  of  Job, — but  these  are 
the  three  dimensions  of  body ;  God  then  has  the  dimensions  of 
body! — therefore,  God  is  body!" 

Whatever  one  may  say  about  the  argument  above  given,  we 
must  admit  that  it  is  a  most  ingenious  absurdity ;  so  absurd, 
indeed,  that  its  very  folly  makes  it  startling:  and  yet  no  one 
would  give  any  weight  to  it ;  it  is  merely  verbal,  a  knot  of  worda 
that  expresses  nothing. 

*  The  quotation  is  from  the  Vulgate. 
818 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  319 

Such,  we  humbly  conceive,  and  we  have  bought  our  knowledge 
by  dear  experience,  is  the  staple  of  almost  all  books  upon  the 
Will  that  we  have  read — ^ingenious  absurdities,  startling  paradoxes, 
knotted  words  that  bind  not  nor  define  the  realities,  definitions 
gravely  laid  down,  that,  like  conjurors'  magic  boxes,  hold  secretly 
all  consequences  afterwards  drawn  from  them, — fruitless  ears  that 
seem  full,  and  yield  no  fruit,  and  are  yet  always  seeming-ready 
for  threshing.  Such  are  the  disputes  upon  the  Will  as  we  have 
seen  them  managed,  and  we  believe  that  the  man  who  has  had 
the  most  of  such  discussions,  that  man  will  the  most  see  the  fruit- 
lessness  of  them  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other.  With  all  due 
respect  to  the  illustrious  dead,  in  this  quality  of  a  fruitless  and 
thorny  verbal  logic,  the  argumentations  for  "Free-will,"*  and 
those  for  "  Slave-will,"f  are  upon  a  par, — the  one  about  as  un- 
satisfactory as  the  other. 

Such  has  been  the  effect  of  them  upon  many  of  the  greatest, 
and  soberest,  and  most  judicious  of  men.  Such,  too,  was  the 
effect  upon  one,  who,  although  certainly  great,  was  as  certainly 
neither  sober  nor  judicious,  but  fiercely  fanatical,  and  injudicious 
in  the  highest  degree:  we  mean  John  Milton.  He  places  his 
demons  in  hell,  arguing  upon  these  themes: 

"  Others  apart  sat  on  a  hill  retired, 
In  thought  more  elevate,  and  reason'd  high 
Of  Providence,  Foreknowledge,  Will,  and  Fate, 
Fixed  Fate,  Free-will,  Foreknowledge  absolute, 
And  found  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

This,  then,  is  the  opinion  upon  this  matter  of  the  great  poet 
who,  in  his  younger  days,  had  been  most  conversant  with  these 
argumentations ;  that  they  are  lost  in  such  labyrinths  that  no  clue 
is  to  be  found ;  that  they  are  so  difficult,  so  unsuitable  to  the  calm- 
ness of  Christian  faith,  that  only  in  the  evil  angels 

"  Late  fallen,  and  weltering  on  their  bed  of  fire," 

could  be  found  intellect  enough,  and  fierce  restlessness  enough, 
to  discuss  these  subjects.  In  the  opinion  of  John  Milton,  fallen 
angels  in  Pandemonium  are  the  only  fit  and  proper  disputants 
upon  the  Calvinistic  and  Arminian  controversy !  We  excuse  not 
Milton  for  this  strange  poetic  license.     We  only  point  it  out  as 

*  "  liberum  Arbitrium." — Erasmus. 

t  "  Servum  Arbitrium." — Luther  and  Calvin. 


320  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

the  expression,  in  a  very  strong  way,  of  a  very  fixed  opinion,  by 
a  man  of  great  genius,  as  to  the  peculiar  nature  and  tendency 
of  this  class  of  disputes. 

And  if  the  reader  please,  we  shall  put  it  into  plain,  unimagina- 
tive prose,  that  Milton  had  come  deliberately  to  the  opinion, — that 
to  contemplate  the  Almighty  Father  solely  as  a  Being  of  Infinite 
Power,  is  to  involve  and  entangle  our  minds  in  the  most  compli- 
cated questions,  to  produce  in  us,  as  regards  ourselves,  the  temper 
of  despair, — as  regards  our  neighbours,  that  of  unyielding  and 
unsympathizing  harshness.  Such  might  be  the  meaning  drawn 
from  this  Miltonic  parable,  when  we  soften  down  the  hatred  and 
scorn  for.  this  Controversy  that  manifestly  was  the  motive  for 
such  an  extraordinary  procedure.  For  surely,  whatever  Calvin, 
and  Luther,  and  Erasmus,  and  the  Dort  divines,  and  the  Armi- 
nians  had  done,  they  had  not  deserved  this,  that  the  angry  theo- 
logical poet  should  give  a  synopsis  and  summary  of  their  opinions 
on  both  sides,  and  then  set  them  forth  as  subjects  of  debate  for 
the  devils  in  Hell !  However,  while  we  protest  most  fervently 
against  the  spirit  of  this  passage  of  Milton,  we  cite  it  here  as 
strong  evidence  of  the  matured  opinion  of  that  great  mind,  as  to 
the  fruitlessness  of  this  harsh  controversy. 

The  same  impression  is  made  upon  Bishop  Bev-eridge  of  the 
incompetency  of  the  human  mind  to  deal  with  such  subjects.  In 
his  Commentary  upon  the  Articles  of  the  English  Church,  he 
expresses  himself  thus : 

"  A  cockle-fish  may  as  well  crowd  the  ocean  into  its  narrow 
shell,  as  vain  man  ever  comprehend  the  Decrees  of  God.  And 
hence  it  is  that,  both  in  public  and  private,  I  have  still  endea- 
voured to  shun  discourses  upon  this  subject ;  and  now  that  I  am 
unavoidably  fallen  upon  it,  I  shall  speak  as  little  as  I  possibly 
can  unto  it."* 

But  that  Intellect,  the  greatest  perhaps  in  the  English  church, 
who,  by  the  judgment  of  all  modest  and  sober  men,  has  earned 
the  title  of  the  "judicious  Hooker," — he  has  expressed  himself, 
perhaps,  more  fully  than  any  upon  the  inutility  of 'bringing  into 
logical  and  mental  examination,  the  subject  of  the  Will  of  the 
Infinite  and  Eternal  God : — 

"  All  things,  therefore,  do  work  after  a  sort  according  to  Law, 

*  Beveridge  on  the  Seventeenth  Article. 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  321 

whereof  some  superior,  unto  whom  they  are  subject,  is  author, 
only  the  works  and  operations  of  God  have  Him  for  their  worker, 
and  for  the  law  whereby  they  are  wrought.  The  Being  of  Q-od 
is  a  kind  of  Law  to  his  working.  *  *  if  [Our  purpose]  is 
only  to  touch  upon  such  operations  [of  God]  as  have  their  begin- 
ning anji  being  by  a  voluntary  purpose  wherewith  God  hath 
eternally  decreed  when  and  how  they  shall  be,  which  eternal  de- 
cree is  that  we  term  an  eternal  law." 

"  Dangerous  it  were  for  the  feeble  brain  of  man  to  wade  far 
into  the  doings  of  the  Most  High,  whom  although  to  know  be 
life,  and  joy  to  make  mention  of  his  name,  yet  our  soundest 
knowledge  is  to  know  that  we  know  him  not  indeed  as  he  is, 
neither  can  know  him ;  and  our  safest  eloquence  concerning  him 
is  our  silence,  when  we  confess  without  confession  that  his  glory 
is  inexplicable,  his  greatness  above  our  capacity  and  reach.  He 
is  above,  and  we  upon  earth,  therefore  it  behooveth  our  words  to 
be  wary  and  few."* 

Such  are  the  resolutions  of  Hooker :  1.  God's  decrees  are  the 
eternal  laws  of  His  Nature — Justice,  Holiness,  Wisdom,  Truth. 
Aught,  then,  unjust,  unholy,  untrue,  cannot  be  attributed  to 
God. 

2.  The  finite  mind  of  man  cannot  comprehend  the  Infinite  hy 
reasoning ;  and  therefore  we  should  not  systematize,  argue,  or 
reason,  but  trust  in  Him,  with  faith,  and  fixedly  distrust  our- 
selves and  our  reasoning  concerning  His  action,  knowing  that  of 
his  Secret  Decrees  we  can  neither  by  argument  nor  system  attain 
any  knowledge,  save  only  that  they  are  not  against  the  eternal 
laws  of  his  being,  holiness,  justice,  truth,  and  mercy. 

This  seems  the  doctrine  of  Hooker,  as  it  is  manifestly  that  of 
the  English  church. 

That  God  has  Secret  Decrees,  the  determinations  of  His  Will 
which  were  made  in  the  bosom  of  his  Infinity,  when  no  external 
creation  existed,  and  only  the  Infinite  Father  dwelt  alone  with 
the  Eternal  Word  and  the  Eternal  Wisdom, — this  we  must  ac- 
knowledge. And  our  business,  then,  is  to  bow  before  Him  in 
adoration — to  know  that  of  these  we  can  know  nothing,  save  that 
they  are  not  contrary  to  those  laws  of  his  being  that  he  has 
revealed  to  ua ;  and,  secondly,  to  be  assured,  tj^at  by  no  logical 


*  Hooker,  vol.  i.  p.  156-7. 
41 


322  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

systematizing  can  we  reach  to  a  comprehension  or  a  knowledge 
of  them. 

We  must  not  argue  and  reason  and  systematize,  and  frame  out 
schemes  and  plans  of  this  ineffable  action  of  the  Eternal,  that 
took  place  before  matter  and  time  had  any  existence, — as  Ed- 
wards, or  Hopkins,  or  Beza,  or  Calvin ;  although,  indeed,  this 
controversy,  dated,  as  it  usually  is,  from  Calvin,  goes  far  higher 
up  the  stream  of  time.  Higher  far  than  Calvin  are  we  to  seek 
the  origin  of  this  controversy,  in  the  works  of  St.  Augustine,  a 
Christian  father  of  the  fifth  century,  and  unquestionably  one  of 
the  greatest  and  holiest  men  of  the  church,  as  well  as  a  man  of 
immense  genius  and  ability.  He  was  the  first  to  introduce  into 
the  Church  the  peculiar  views  at  present  called  Calvinistic. 

And  much  as  we  revere  the  memory  of  Augustine,  we  must 
say,  that  we  think  that  in  bringing  into  Christianity  the  Stoic 
doctrine  of  F^te,  and  the  logical  and  verbal  debatings  by  which 
it  has  been  sustained,  he  inflicted  a  grievous  wound  upon  the 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel.  Far  better  would  it  have  been  fully  to 
confess  God's  almighty  power  and  man's  feebleness  of  mind — to 
think  that  there  are  mysteries  above  our  reach, — and  to  refrain 
from  the  vain  attempt,  by  logical  and  verbal  arguing,  to  shape 
out  a  system  of  action  for  the  Inscrutable  and  Ineffable  Jehovah. 

In  fact,  there  are  in  the  works  of  St.  Augustine,  to  be  found 
united  together  in  close  connection,  two  ideas :  the  idea  of  Original 
Sin  and  Grace,  a  true  and  real  Christian  idea  ;  and  another  idea, 
the  pagan  one  of  Doom,  or  Fate.  These  two  are  so  joined  in  his 
mind,  by  his  natural  fervour,  that  one  seems  to  him  the  logical  con- 
sequence of  the  other.  And  even  to  this  day,  such  is  the  influence, 
at  the  end  of  fourteen  centuries,  of  that  great  mind,  that  to  many, 
these  two  ideas  seem  absolutely  connected,  so  that  one  must  infer 
the  other, — when  they  are,  in  reality,  wholly  separate.  Men  can- 
not conceive  how  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin  and  Grace  can  be 
held  without  holding  Predestination,  or  how  Predestination  can 
be  held  without  holding  Grace ;  whereas,  as  I  have  said,  the 
ideas  are  not  in  any  way  naturally  united :  as  may  be  seen  from 
two  examples.  '  Mohammed,  the  Pharisees,  the  Stoics,  Diderot 
the  French  infidel,  all  these  held  most  distinctly  the  doctrine  of 
Absolute  Fate ;  and  yet  no  one  will  say  that  any  of  them  ap- 
proach at  all  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Grace  of  God  and  the 
Inability  of  man.     And,  on  the  other  hand,  before  the  time  of 


THE   HUMAN   WILL.  323 

St.  Augustine,  the  Ancient  Church  universally  proclaimed  the 
doctrines  of  man's  fall  and  the  all-sufficing  power  of  Grace ;  and 
yet  there  is  no  trace  of  the  doctrine  of  fate  among  them.  And 
the  Church  in  America,  at  the  present  day,  says  distinctly  that 
without  Grace  no  man  can  do  any  thing  pleasing  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  yet  distinctly  reprobates  the  fatalistic  doctrine. 

But  in  the  mind  of  St.  Augustine,  the  two  ideas  dwelt  together. 
Penetrated  to  his  inmost  soul  with  the  idea  of  man's  fallen  state, 
his  inability  of  himself  to  do  any  good,  or  in  thought,  word,  or 
deed  to  satisfy  the  just  demands  of  the  law  of  God,  we  see  the 
stern  will  that  could  have  swayed  the  sceptre  of  the  Roman 
empire — the  lofty  mind  that  soars  to  the  most  empyrean  heights 
of  mental  science — the  great  heart  so  overflowing  with  love, — all 
this  nature  bowed  before  the  throne  of  God,  confessing  its  own 
unworthiness,  its  inability  to  do  aught  of  good,  its  guiltiness,  its 
deservingness  of  condemnation  before  the  pure  and  holy  bar  of 
Infinite  Justice.  And  then,  as  the  counterpart  of  this,  is  seen 
his  conviction  of  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ — his  feeling  of  the 
all-sufficient  and  almighty  influences  of  the  Grace  of  God  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

No  greater,  no  more  glorious  sight  has  Christianity  ever  seen, 
than  the  great  Augustine,*  bowing  before  the  throne  of  God, 
and  under  these  convictions  crying  out,  "  Not  myself,  but  thee, 
0  my  God — not  my  power,  but  thine,  0  Infinite  and  Eternal 
Father— not  my  merit,  but  thy  death  and  thy  love  by  me  unde- 
served, 0  Eternal  Son,  the  Word  Incarnate — not  my  ability,  or 
my  purity,  or  my  merit,  but  thy  Grace,  Almighty  Spirit ;  proceed- 
ing from  the  Father,  endued  then  with  his  omnipotence ;  sent  by 
the  Son,  conveying  then  his  love  and  his  pardon — not  myself, 
then,  the  creature  of  clay  and  the  dust,  but  thee,  0  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost — Creator,  Saviour,  and  sole  Sanctifier  of  Man !" 
Such  are  the  feelings  wherewith,  throughout  the  works  of  this 
great  saint,  the  doctrines  of  Grace  and  Original  Sin,  practically 
held  by  him,  abide  upon  his  mind  and  find  vent  from  his  heart. 

Such  are  and  such  ought  to  be  the  feelings  of  every  true  Chris- 
tian who  holds  these  doctrines,  without  any  reference  to  Absolute 

*  See  throughout  the  Confessions  of  St.  Augustine :  a  book  that  perhaps 
has  been  never  equalled  for  true  Christian  feeling,  and  which  every  one  that 
desires  to  know  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel  should  read.  There  are  several 
English  translations  of  it. 


824  CHRISTIAlir  SCIENCE. 

Predestination  at  all.  The  two  doctrines,  in  fact,  are  entirely  and 
completely  distinct.  Only  in  the  ardent  mind  of  Augustine  were 
they  united,  by  the  fact  that  he  held  them  both. 

For,  alas !  the  Stoic  doctrine  of  Necessity,  or  Doom,  or  Fate, — 
the  doctrine  that  sees  power  as  the  sole  attribute  of  God,  and 
considers  his  sole  act  to  be  the  issuing  of  infinite  and  uncontrolled 
decrees, — this  idea,  familiarized  to  the  mind  of  Augustine  from 
his  previous  philosophic  studies,  ofiered  apparently  an  easy  solu- 
tion for  the  mysteries  of  Grace,  seemed  to  honour  the  Almighty 
sovereign  of  the  universe,  and  to  be  a  ready  answer  to  all  gain- 
sayers,  a  ready  means  of  accounting  for  all  mysteries  of  external 
nature,  and  of  providence,  as  well  as  for  all  the  dark  problems 
of  man's  nature  and  position ;  and  so  it  was  too  readily  adopted. 
The  fervent  genius  and  glowing  heart  of  Augustine  thus  united 
two  ideas  wholly  incongruous — the  Christian  idea  of  Almighty 
and  All-sufficing  Grace,  and  the  Stoic  idea  of  Fate  uncontrolled 
and  irresistible,  predestinating  all  things  by  an  absolute  doom. 

From  that  time,  in  the  apprehension  of  the  ordinary  mass  of 
Christians,  such  is  the  far-descended  power  of  one  great  soul 
even  in  its  mistakes,  it  has  been  found  almost  impossible  to  sepa- 
rate these  two  ideas.  Most  probably  it  may  take  place  even  with 
this  very  book,  that  many  who  read  it  and  see  that  it  upholds  so 
strongly  the  doctrine  of  the  guiltiness  of  man  before  God,  and 
the  All-sufficiency  of  Grace,  may  wonder  that  the  other  idea  they 
think  to  belong  to  it,  that  of  Fatalistic  Predestination,  is  so  strongly 
rejected. ,  Nay,  perhaps,  they  may  be  inclined  to  accuse  me  of 
inconsistency  in  accepting  the  one  doctrine,  and  rejecting  the 
other. 

Let  them  know  then,  that  for  the  facts  of  Creation,  of  Provi- 
dence, of  Grace,  I  seek  not  the  solution  in  the  Pagan  doctrine 
of  Doom,  but  in  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  God 
governs  not  the  world  by  Doom,  executes  not  his  decrees  by  the 
rigid  machinery  of  an  iron  Fate,  but  by  the  Word,  a  personal, 
ever-present  being,  proceeding  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father; 
God  from  God,  Light /row  Light,  very  God  from  very  God;  con- 
substantial,  coeternal,  coequal  with  the  Father.  He  is  the 
governing  power  in  this  world,  HE,  and  not  an  impersonal,  unin- 
telligent, mechanical  Doom ;  a  present  God  He  is,  and  a  present 
King.  If  I  believe  in  Stoic  Doom,  I  more  or  less  deny  the 
government  of  the  Word,  the  personal  and  present  agent  of  the 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  325 

purposes  and  decrees  of  the  Almighty.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  I 
fully  conceive  and  apprehend  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Word, 
I  must  cast  aside  the  idea  that  a  predestination  system  is  to  this 
world  the  executor  of  God's  will.  One  idea  destroys  the  other. 
I  cannot  hold  them  both.  I  therefore  hold  to  the  peculiarly 
Christian  doctrine,  and  reject  that  taken  by  St.  Augustine  from 
the  Stoics. 

Again,  if  the  way  wherein  our  thoughts  are  subdued  unto 
Christ,  be  conceived  to  be  by  the  infinite  power  of  the  Almighty 
crushing  them  into  conformity  with  his  will  by  an  overwhelming 
force,  this  is  one  idea, — a  solution  for  the  problem  which  cuts 
the  knot  instead  of  untying  it.  And  manifestly  by  this  there  is 
no  agent  can  interfere  between  our  thoughts  and  the  power  of 
the  Infinite  Decree.  It  is  the  agent  that  subdues  the  soul.  Here 
then  again,  the  idea  of  Doom  is  substituted  for  the  Christian  idea. 
The  Christian  idea  is,  that  a  personal  being,  the  Holi/  Spirit,  the 
Lord,  (that  is  Jehovah,)  proceeding  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
as  God/r<wiGod,  and  receiving  from  the  Son  Life  and  Light  for 
men,  that  he,  the  Love  of  the  Father,  the  Free  Gift  of  the  Son, 
the  Spirit  of  grace  undeserved,  and  all-embracing,  is  the  agent 
that  works  upon  our  thoughts  and  turns  them  to  God.  HE  and 
not  Doom.  If  I  hold,  then,  in  its  fulness,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  His  oflSce  with  regard  to  men,  I  cannot  hold  that 
other  predestination  doctrine.  If  I  should  hold  that  doctrine 
of  Doom,  I  make  the  Spirit  of  God, — if  I  admit  His  existence, — 
a  subordinate  agent  working  in  consequence  of  the  decree, 
and  only  its  instrument,  and  therefore,  I  am,  by  my  very  doctrine, 
tempted  to  deny  that  he  is  God  of  God.  In  the  mystery  of  the 
Trinity,  as  I  have  said,  not  in  any  pagan  philosophy  of  fatalism, 
is  to  be  sought  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  Grace.  Happy 
had  the  church  been  if  Augustine  had  never  united  these  two 
ideas  together,  so  discordant  as  they  are,  in  their  sources,  in 
their  effects  upon  the  mind  and  temper  of  man,  and  in  their  con- 
sequences. 

Happy,  too,  for  modem  Christianity,  had  men  been  content 
with  the  humble  and  calm  views  of  Hooker,  as  given  a  few  pages 
back,  but,  in  both  cases,  so  far  from  taking  this  moderate  view, 
they  attempted  to  systematize  the  admitted  facts  of  God's  om- 
nipotence and  of  man's  subjection,  into  a  rigorous  logical  theory, 
and  thereby,  as  the  natural  consequence  of  the  system,  they 


326  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

changed  the  Almighty  and  Omnipresent  "Father  of  Mercies," 
into  a  Lord  of  rigorous  and  unbending  destiny,  predestinating 
to  heaven  and  reprobating  to  hell  independently  of  all  the  laws 
of  his  own  being,  save  that  of  almighty  power.  The  external 
world,  the  great  school  of  Probation,  whereby,  in  its  various  forms, 
man  is  taught  by  a  living  and  present  God,  they  made  a  machine 
driven  by  an  eternal  Fate,  and  man  so  crushed  within  its  wheels, 
as  to  be  externally  bound  by  infrangible  chains,  and  internally 
driven  by  an  irresistible  Will,  not  his  own.  This  is  the  issue  of 
the  argument  for  "  Slave-will." 

And  then  the  opponents  of  this  fatalistic  system,  in  attacking 
it,  argued  just  as  unfairly  upon  the  other  side.  Instead  of 
abstaining  from  the  attempt  to  measure  the  Infinite  by  the  Finite, 
to  systematize  by  man's  puny  reasoning,  the  power  and  the  acts 
of  the  Eternal  God ;  they,  too,  had  their  system  hy  which  God 
made  the  world ;  their  reasons  why  he  did  every  thing ;  they,  too, 
could  penetrate  into  the  motives  upon  which,  before  time  was,  he 
decreed;  and  "being  His  counsellors,  they  had  instructed  Him." 
And  so  the  end  of  the  one  system,  as  well  as  the  other,  came  to 
be  false  philosophy  with  reference  to  the  Being  and  Attributes  of 
God,  the  uses  of  the  external  world,  and  the  nature  of  man ;  and 
presumptuous  dogmatism  flying  away  from  all  living  faith  into 
absurd  and  unpractical  speculation.* 

*  The  author  will,  perhaps,  be  asked,  what  there  is  in  your  own  doctrine, 
seeing  you  count  one  scheme  to  be  harsh  and  unsuitable  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  Gospel,  and  the  other,  that  of  Predestination  upon  foresight  of  good  works, 
to  be  presumptuous  and  evil  in  its  tendencies, — what  then  is  your  scheme  ? 

I  answer,  that  which  I  think  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  standard  of  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  to  which  I  belong.  That  is 
the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin  and  Grace,  upon  which,  as  I  have  dwelt  upon 
them  so  plainly  I  need  not  enlarge.  In  reference  to  the  Decrees  of  God,  the 
doctrine  of  Hooker,  that  we  cannot  know  any  thing  of  them,  only  that  they 
are,  and  that  they  are  not  against  the  revelations  of  His  nature  that  he  hat 
given  us.  And  with  regard  to  the  Election,  that  every  man  in  this  world  whs 
is  within  the  church  of  God,  in  the  visible  covenant,  he  is  Elect,  predestinated 
to  tJiose  privileges,  to  an  opportunity  that  is,  of  all  the  means  of  grace,  and 
therefore  bound  "to  make  his  calling  and  Election  sure."  Upon  this  last 
point  I  would  refer  my  readers  to  Faber  on  the  doctrine  of  Election. 

I  think  that  the  Church  is  not  Calvinist,  much  less  is  it  Arminian : — upon 
Grace  and  Original  Sin,  Her  doctrine  is  that  of  St.  Augustine ;  upon  the 
decrees  of  God  and  the  nature  of  Election,  that  of  the  Greek  church ;  and 
upon  the  whole  subject,  her  desire  is  due  reverence  and  freedom  from  tho 
bondage  of  sys^^ematizing  dogmatists. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  827 

How  mucli  better  than  Calvinistic  or  Arminian  controversialism 
it  is  to  say,  with  Hooker  and  Beveridge,  that  "  His  Decrees  are 
lecret  and  infinite,  and  therefore  by  no  exercise  of  mental  power 
vn  us  to  be  ascertained  or  expounded — and  that  they  are  accord- 
ing to  the  unchangeable  laws  of  his  being,  mercy,  goodness, 
truth,  and  therefore  only  by  living  faith  to  be  contemplated  and 
believed  in !" — How  much  better  to  impute  no  evil  to  God,  no 
good  to  ourselves,  but  to  bow  before  him  in  silent  adoration  and 
acquiescence  in  his  Will ! 

The  reader,  then,  may  consider  that  we  purpose  not  to  take 
either  the  one  side  or  the  other  of  these  thorny  questions.  The 
above  resolution  of  Hooker's  is  all  we  shall  give  upon  the  point — 
a  resolution  which  excludes  the  one  side  as  well  as  the  other. 
Calvinistic  and  Arminian  controversies  we  meddle  not  with,  as, 
upon  the  grounds  taken,  being  profitless  and  idle.  The  practical 
truths  of  God's  Power  and  of  Man's  Freedom*  we  shall  not  be 
slow  to  argue  and  expound  in  a  practical  way ;  but  these  other 
thorny  verbal  argumentations  we  shall,  we  hope,  ever  eschew. 

But  although  a  subject  may  have  been  abused,  still  this  is  no 
argument  against  its  rational  discussion.  Although  Calvinista  or 
their  opponents  have  talked  nonsense  about  the  Human  Will, 
that  is  no  reason  why  the  subject  should  be  neglected — no  reason 
why  it  cannot  be  treated  rationally.  And,  indeed,  that  persons 
have  falsely  and  foolishly  discussed  any  subject,  especially  if  it 
be  of  the  importance  of  this  one,  is  a  very  strong  reason  why  it 
should  be  set  in  a  true  and  sober  light  before  men.  This  subject, 
therefore,  of  the  Will  of  man,  we  shall  take  the  liberty  of  rescu- 
ing from  the  position  it  hitherto  has  had  as  a  part  of  Theology, 
and  vindicating  unto  it  its  own  proper  place  in  Philosophy — an 
element,  and  a  most  important  one,  in  the  Philosophy  of  Human 
Nature,  which  is  Ethics.  We  shall,  therefore,  as  I  have  said, 
omit  all  consideration  of  the  will  of  God  and  his  decrees,  as  be- 
longing to  Theology,  contenting  ourselves  with  the  resolution  of 
Hooker  that  we  have  given  upon  this  point,  and  hoping  that  it 
will  content  our  readers.     But,  in  the  ensuing  chapter,  we  shall 

*  A  very  important  distinction  must  be  noted  here.  The  Will  is  the 
faculty  of  freedom,  whose  function  it  is  to  act  freely — in  that  sense  the  loiU 
is  free.  The  question  of  fact,  "  How  far  it  is  actually  capable  of  acting,  in 
the  race  or  in  any  individual,"  is  a  different  one.  The  eye  is  the  organ  of 
sight — and  yet  I  may  be  blind.    But  of  this  more  further  on. 


328  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

examine  the  Will  of  man,  as  a  faculty  of  his  being,  and  a  most 
important  one, — in  fact,  one  of  the  highest  of  his  moral  natare. 
This  shall  be  the  subject  of  our  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  11. 


Definitions  of  the  Will :  Three  given. — Objections  answered. — ^Lw^cal  and 
Real  Examination  of  the  sophism,  "  The  Will  is  determined  by  Motives, 
and  therefore  is  not  free." — Motives  are  of  two  kinds:  Spiritual  and 
Temporal. — The  first  frees  the  Will ;  the  last-mentioned  enslaves  it. — Two 
Powers  that  combine  in  every  Human  Action :  the  Will  of  the  Ma-n,  and 
the  Effect  of  Circumstance. — From  this  fact,  a  new  ground  taken  upon  the 
subject  of  the  Will. 

Our  readers  will  remember  that  in  the  last  chapter  we  an- 
nounced our  intention,  as  far  as  possible,  to  keep  clear  of  the 
Theological  questions  upon  the  Will  of  God,  and  confine  ourselves 
to  the  examination  of  the  Human  Will  as  a  faculty  of  man's  nature. 
In  conformity  with  this  intention,  we  ask.  What  is  the  Will? 
"  It  is  the  internal  power  of  self-guidance  in  reference  to  action." 
This  is  one  definition. — ^Another,  and  a  very  good  one,  is  that  of 
the  Greek  church  universally — that  "  the  Will  is  the  faculty  of 
Autexousia,  or  Self-Power." — A  third  is,  that  "the  Will  is  the 
faculty  of  voluntary  choice  in  man." 

One  may  say,  "  If  these  definitions  be  true,  there  is  no  further 
need  of  dispute,  for  they  all  take  for  granted  and  imply  the  Free- 
dom of  the  Will."  "And  so,"  we  say,  "they  do."  The  ques- 
tion is  not  to  be  decided  verbally,  at  all,  but  actually — by  the 
experience  of  Human  Nature.  And  we  say  to  each  of  our 
readers  to  decide  it  so.  Let  a  man  read  the  definitions  of  the 
Will,  and  see  whether  there  be  in  him — in  his  nature,  that  is — a 
power  answering  to  them.  If  he  finds  in  himself  existing  "  an 
internal  power  of  self-guidance  in  reference  to  action" — "  a  fa- 
culty of  self-power"— or  "a  faculty  of  voluntary  choice,  Avhereby 
he  can  choose  to  do  or  not  to  do," — if  he  experience  this  in  his  own 
nature ; — and  if  this  be  the  universal  experience  of  man  in  gene- 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  329 

ral, — all  logic  and  all  systems  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, 
the  definitions  above  given  are  true. 

Let  us  see  what  these  imply.  First,  that  the  power  is  internal, 
proceeding  from  the  inward  nature  of  the  man — therein  origin- 
ating, in  the  inward  faculty,  and  not  from  external  circum- 
stances :  in  other  words,  a  part  and  faculty  of  the  Spiritual 
Nature  of  the  man. 

Secondly,  "self-guiding" — the  power,  that  is,  of  guiding  the 
"  Self" — the  person — the  man.  This  implies  three  things :  first, 
the  possibility  of  choice  between  one  act  and  another ;  secondly, 
the  power  of  determining,  or  making  permanent  in  the  Will,  that 
choice ;  and  thirdly,  the  ability,  more  or  less,  to  carry  out  into 
action  that  choice  and  that  determination. 

If  a  man  tell  us  that  he  has  felt  no  internal  power  of  choice, 
of  decision,  of  action, — we  say,  "Very  well;  it  is  possible  in 
extraordinary  cases  of  malformation  of  mind," — and  we  do  not 
intermeddle  with  him,  any  more  than,  in  writing  a  treatise  upon 
light  and  colours,  we  should  with  a  man  born  blind.  But  the 
mass  of  men,  in  all  ages,  have,  in  language  and  in  fact,  acknow- 
ledged a  power  internal,  that  is  not  Conscience  or  Affection  or 
Reason,  to  which  these  qualities  belong,  and  which  they  have 
called  the  Will.  All,  therefore,  we  can  do,  is  to  describe  it — to 
ask  our  readers  to  look  within,  and  if  they  see  it  there,  as  they 
shall  do,  to  go  on  with  us  to  examine  it  practically,  and  practi- 
cally to  apply  the  doctrine  to  their  own  moral  culture.  The  full 
proof  of  the  facts  of  this  science,  as  we  have  before  said,  is  the 
self-knowledge  of  the  reader ;  and  the  writer  who  truly  describes 
the  facts  of  nature  so  that  his  readers  can  recognise  and  confess 
their  truth,  and  who  then  applies  them  to  practical  purposes, — he 
is  right,  and  not  the  best  arguer  and  debater.  It  is  too  late  in  the 
day  to  fill  books  with  such  babillations  as  have  been  perpetrated 
in  reference  to  this  subject  of  the  Will.  If  a  man  have  felt  no 
such  internal  power,  we  pity  him :  if,  more  than  this,  he  prove, 
or  try  to  prove  that  no  one  else  has,  we  leave  him  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  his  ingenuity — and  say  no  more  about  it. 

Of  like  character  are  such  other  asseverations  as  this :  "I  ac- 
knowledge a  Will  to  exist,  but  the  Will  is  not  free."  That  is, 
the  man  acknowledges  a  Will  that  is  not  a  Will — for  the  very 
notion  of  Will  implies  freedom,  in  faculty,  at  least,  and  function. 

42 


830  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

The  very  idea  of  a  Will,  the  very  meaning  of  the  word,  is,  that 
it  is  the  faculty  whose  function  is  freedom. 

"  He  doubts  whether  the  idea  of  a  Will  implies  freedom ;  nay, 
he  proves  the  Will  not  free,  but  Slave." 

And  this  is  his  argument :  "  The  Will  is  determined  by  mo- 
tives"— "it  does  not  then  determine  itself,  but  is  determined" — 
"  therefore  it  is  not  free." 

This  is  the  famous  argument  for  Slave- Will,  a  mere  verbal 
catch,  and  nothing  more.  However,  in  order  that  our  readers 
may  see  it  to  be  so,  we  shall  put  it  in  the  shape  of  a  regular 
syllogism : — 

Major  premise :  "  The  Will  is  determined  by  motives." 

Minor  premise :  Whatever  is  determined,  does  not  determine 
itself. 

Conclusion :  Therefore — The  Will  does  not  determine  itself. 

As  the  logicians  say,  "Nego  minorem,"  I  deny  the  minor 
premise  to  be  true.  What  proof  is  there  that  whatever  is  deter- 
mined does  not  determine  itself? 

Another  syllogism : — 

Major :  "  That  which  is  determined  is  passive." 

Minor :  "  That  which  is  passive  does  not  determine  itself." 

Conclusion :  Therefore — That  which  is  determined,  does  not 
determine  itself. 

A  syllogism  false  through  a  double  Middle  Term.  That  which 
is  passive  is  the  verb  "is  determined,"  in  the  first  premise;  and 
in  the  second  it  is  real,  a  thing ; — the  middle  term  in  the  major 
is  verbal — in  the  minor,  real:  the  conclusion,  then,  is  incon- 
sequent— it  does  not  follow.  So  it  seems  this  great  argument  is 
merely  verbal;  a  sophism,  which  proves  the  Will,  the  faculty 
of  our  being,  to  be  passive,  because  a  verb  in  a  sentence  put 
together  by  the  writer  is  a  passive  verb  !  The  same  may  be  seen 
by  multitudes  of  other  arguments  constructed  upon  the  same 
model:  e.  g.  from  the  premise,  "John  is  loved,"  you  can  prove 
"that  he  does  not  love  himself;"  from  the  sentence,  "  This  man 
is  slain,"  that  "he  has  not  slain  himself;"  and  so  on,  through  as 
many  false  argumentations  upon  the  false  model  as  are  required. 

In  reality,  that  "the  Will  is  determined  by  motive,"  does  not 
exclude  it  from  being  "  self-determined :"  being  so,  it  still  comes 
under  the  assertion,  "it  is  determined." 

All  Motives  are  divided  into  two  classes :  the  External  and 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  331 

the  Internal.  All  that  come  from  the  outward,  physical  world, 
and  work  upon  us  through  our  senses,  are  External.  Those  that 
come  from  our  internal  and  Spiritual  nature — from  the  Con- 
science, the  Spiritual  Reason,  the  Affections, — these  are  Inter- 
nal. The  first  enslave  the  man ;  they  bind  his  Will  in  an  obe- 
dience to  the  things  of  Time  and  Sense ;  they  make  outward, 
material  and  corporeal  objects  to  have  the  dominion  over  him. 
His  Will,  determined  by  this  class  of  motives,  then,  is  so  far 
enslaved,  not  free.  Again :  Internal  motives — those  that  come 
from  our  Spiritual  nature  and  from  the  Spiritual  world — these 
are  internal ;  they  do  not  enslave  the  Will ; — they  free  it.  He, 
for  instance,  that  is  determined  by  his  Conscience  to  go  in  the 
right  path,  against  the  temptation  to  go  in  the  wrong, — he  feels 
that,  in  the  one  case,  determined  by  one  motive,  he  is  free ;  in  the 
other,  determined  by  it,  he  would  be  a  slave.  So  in  matters  of 
Reason :  walking  by  the  rule  and  law  of  Moral  Principle,  deter- 
mined by  it  as  a  motive,  he  is  free  ;  led  against  it  by  any  motive, 
he  is  a  slave.  And  so  with  respect  to  the  Affections :  to  be  led 
by  them  is  to  be  free ;  to  be  led  by  Sensuality,  or  Self-will,  or 
Selfishness,  is  to  be  enslaved.*  This  is  the  truth  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  Determination  of  the  Will  by  Motive.  One  class  of 
motives  enslaves  the  Will ;  the  other  frees  it.  How  accordant 
it  is,  both  in  nature  and  in  philosophy,  to  the  truth  of  our 
Saviour's  words,  "  If  the  Son  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free 
indeed,"t  every  one  can  see;  as  also  how  distinctly  it  agrees 
with  the  nature  of  Motive  and  of  the  Will. 

What,  then,  is  the  use  of  entangling  "^j^rbally  the  mind  of 
uneducated  men  in  such  sophisms  as  that  which  I  have  above 
examined,  and  of  really  supposing  all  Motives  to  be  external, 
and  the  Will  not  to  be  a  faculty,  but  a  mere  machine  for  motives, — 
a  water-wheel,  whereupon  these  are  poured  from  without,  and 
which  thereby  goes  ? 

But,  although  men  may  not  be  able  to  answer  these  sophisms 
or  logicians  enough  to  put  their  finger  on  the  unsound  part  of  the 
argument,  they  always  act  and  always  have  acted  as  beings  that 
have  in  their  nature  a  faculty  whose  function  is  Freedom.    Nay, 

*  The  Sensual  and  the  Dark  rebel  in  vain, 
Slaves  by  their  own  compulsion. 

Coleridge. 
t  John  viiL  26. 


332  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

the  very  upholders  of  these  arguments — even  they  act  as  if  their 
own  reasoning  were  false.  No  Necessitarian  ever  yet  acted  con- 
sistently with  his  scheme.  Their  actions  show  that  the  scheme 
is  verbal  merely,  and  not  real.  We  shall,  therefore,  pass  by  and 
neglect  as  frivolous  such  argumentations,  and  go  on  according  to 
our  own  consciousness  of  Human  Nature,  and  our  knowledge  or 
penetration  into  that  of  the  race,  describing  the  moral  powers, 
and  leaving  the  proofs  to  our  reader's  knowledge  of  himself;  and 
then  urging  moral  action  and  moral  culture  upon  these  truths, 
instead  of  fruitless  speculation  and  dry  verbal  paradox. 

We  ask,  then,  any  individual, — we  suppose  the  one  who  now 
has  this  page  open  before  him, — to  consider  this  illustration  we 
are  about  to  give. 

My  reader,  then,  has  arrived  at  a  certain  point  and  period  of 
life,  that  he  calls  now,  in  reference  to  Time  and  events  past,  and 
HERE,  in  reference  to  place.  In  reference  to  Time,  a  certain 
definite  series  of  events  has  happened,  through  which  he  has 
passed ;  and  his  present  point  in  the  series  he  calls  "  now,"  or 
the  "present  time."  In  reference  to  Space,  his  course,  from 
beginning  to  end,  might  be  traced  exactly  upon  the  globe ;  and 
the  present  point  he  calls  here.  The  result,  then,  of  his  course 
in  Space  and  in  Time,  is  that  "now  the  man  is  here."  What, 
then,  has  produced  this  result  ?  What  forces  have  brought  him 
so  far  that  now  he  is  here  ? 

Let  him  consider,  and  he  shall  find  that  his  course  hitherto  is 
naturally  and  aptly  described  as  a  voyage — the  man,  as  a  vessel 
that  started  upon  the^oyagq  of  life,  and  has  got  so  far.  What,  then, 
has  brought  the  vessel  so  far  on  its  course  ?  Two  forces  only — 
the  internal  power  that  is  within  the  vessel — the  external  force 
without :  the  combination,  or  rather  the  resultant*  of  these  two, 
is  that  which  brings  all  vessels  thus  far.  So  it  is  with  the  man : 
two  forces  he  shall  recognise  to  have  brought  him  so  far  as  he 
has  come  on  his  voyage — the  force  of  external  circumstances  and 
the  force  of  internal  power.  And  never  has  there  been  a  life  in 
the  course  of  which  up  to  any  given  point  the  two  forces  do  not 
unite.     External  circumstances,  in  their  result,  are  modified  by 

*  The  "  Resultant,"  in  Statics,  is  that  force  which  "  results,"  ifi  direction 
and  amount,  from  the  combined  action  of  two  others  upon  the  same  body  at 
the  same  time. 

I 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  333 

the  internal  power :  and  it  is  modified  by  external  circumstances. 
The  course  of  the  vessel  is  shaped  by  the  two  powers  combined. 

Now,  by  looking  at  the  matter  in  this  way,  the  individual  shall 
see  that,  in  each  act  of  life,  these  two  powers — the  internal  and 
the  external — both  exist :  the  Will  is  never  so  weak  in  any  man 
that  it  does  not  modify  the  effect  of  the  external  influences ;  nor 
is  it,  again,  so  strong  in  any,  that  by  its  force,  exclusively  and 
entirely,  the  man's  course  is  guided.  The  external  force  and  the 
inward  power  exist  together  in  bringing  to  an  issue  all  actions. 
The  sternest  and  strongest  Human  Will  never  was  so  potent  as 
to  annihilate  the  influence  of  circumstances,  so  that  this  last 
force  should  become  nothing :  and  the  most  crushing  force  of 
circumstances  never  did  nor  could  reduce  to  nothing  the  effect 
on  action  of  the  internal  power ;  but  both,  in  degrees  that  vary 
much  in  relative  power,  exist  in  each  act  of  man's  life. 

As  a  practical  matter  of  the  consciousness  of  all  men,  they 
know  and  feel  the  internal  force  to  exist :  the  external  force  also 
to  show  itself  in  each  action,  in  all  actions  ;  and  that  neither  in 
the  course  of  the  whole  life,  nor  yet  in  any  one  single  action, 
does  this  twofoldness  cease  to  exist,  or  one  of  the  forces  become 
all  and  the  other  become  nothing. 

Now,  before  we  go  further,  it  is  worth  while  to  see  how  para- 
dox upon  this  matter  arises.  The  Fatalist  supposes  Circum- 
stance to  bind  man  in  with  an  irresistible  chain,  so  that  all 
actions  are  predoomed  by  an  eternal  fate.  Is  not  this  to  exag- 
gerate the  one  force,  to  suppose  it  irresistible,  and  to  suppose  the 
other  to  come  to  nothing, — a  mere  theory  that  each  one's  own 
experience  can  assure  him  to  be  false  ?  For  each  one  in  each 
circumstance  feels  the  two  powers,  and  knows  that  the  one,  as 
well  as  the  other,  ever  exists.  Because  things  are  to  be  touched, 
have  I  no  sense  of  touch  ?  Because  things  visible  are  to  be  seen, 
have  I  no  sight  ?  Because  there  is  a  power  without  me,  which 
can  and  does  act  upon  me  in  a  degree  which  I  cannot  measure, 
have  I  no  power  within  ? 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  men  who  eke  out  an 
Atheistic  philosophy  by  an  argument  for  what  they  call  "Free- 
will," but  which,  in  all  senses  and  meanings  of  the  word,  is  not 
"Free-will,"  but  "Self-omnipotence."  They  first  take  it  for 
granted  that  mere  physical  laws  embrace  all  action ;  and  then  that 
by  his  internal  power  man  can  modify,  as  he  likes,  all  these  laws. 


334  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

And  so  man  is  wholly  and  entirely  free,  no  external  power  upon 
him,  his  inward  power  is  lord  of  all.  That  is,  that  internally  he 
has  an  intelligent  power  which  meets  nothing  from  without  but 
unintelligent  physical  laws,  and  so  is  entirely  without  control. 

So  might  the  dove,  that  by  chance  had  fallen  into  the  grosser 
element  of  water,  and  found  it  to  obstruct  its  flight  upon  rising 
into  the  thinner  fluid  of  air,  imagine  that  all  resistance  was  gone ; 
or  that  the  more  it  was  diminished  the  more  progress  it  would 
make.*  Whereas,  for  all  external  resistance  to  vanish  entirely, 
would  be  for  all  its  inner  power  to  be  rendered  wholly  unable.  Just 
so  it  is  with  these  men,  they  imagine  away  the  outward  Intelli- 
gent Power  that  bears  upon  man  through  what  we  call  "  circum- 
stance," and  think  in  this  of  freedom !  If  this  dream  were 
realized,  their  "  Will,"  would  be  as  the  doves'  wings,  idly  fluttering 
in  vacuum,  unable  and  useless. 

And  their  dream  of  an  internal  Will,  with  no  external  Will 
modifying  it,  this  is  just  as  vain  a  paradox  as  that  of  the  Fatal- ' 
ists ;  just  as  vain,  for  the  same-  consciousness  that  tells  me  and  all 
men  of  an  inward  power,  the  Will,  that  can  modify  all  external 
circumstances,  that  same  knowledge  of  myself  and  of  the  world  shall 
tell  me  of  an  external  power  working  through  what  I  call  circum- 
stances that  shall  modify  the  result  of  my  action. 

The  so-called  arguments  or  verbal  riddles,  that  deny,  the  one 
the  internal  power,  the  other  the  external  power, — occupy,  in 
some  books  a  great  space,  with  us  they  shall  take  up  none.  The 
evidence  that  I  have  for  the  internal  power,  the  Will,  that  same 
evidence,  I  have  in  my  own  experience,  and  in  that  of  all  men, 
for  thQ  external  power  that  acts  upon  me  through  the  "  Circum- 
stance." 

And  my  course  of  life,  both  in  itself  as  a  whole,  and  in  each 
act  of  it  singly,  is  a  resultant  of  these  two  powers,  varied  in 
force,  it  may  be,  but  still  existent  each  of  them  in  each  event, 
and  in  the  whole  result,  or  entire  sum  total  of  my  life.  I  think 
the  experience  of  each  considerate  man,  apart  from  prejudice  or 
system,  will  show  him  that  this  is  true ;  and  that  it  is  not  only  in 


*  This  illustration  is  taken  from  a  well-known,  but  not  well-understood 
German  writer.  I  use  it  because  as  an  illustration  it  suits  my  purpose 
admirably.  And  I  mention  it  lest  some  censorious  person  should  bring  a 
charge  of  plagiarism. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  335 

accordance  with  his  own  experience,  but  with  the  nature  of  power 
and  of  action. 

And  so  the  two  powers  being  established,  the  matter  of  dis- 
cussion is  changed  from  the  old  ground — which  was,  whether  the 
Will  was  self-omnipotent  entirely,  or  entirely  a  slave  to  eireum- 
stances — to  a  new  ground,  which,  instead  of  denying  one  force  or 
the  other  to  exist,  and  arguing  for  the  irresistibility  of  that  which 
it  supposes,  admits  both  to  exist,  and  then  discusses  their  relative 
powers  and  effect.  This  new  ground  having  taken,  and  thus  fairly 
opened  the  subject,  we  shall  leave  our  readers  to  meditate  upon 
it,  and  go  on  to  another  chapter,  wherein  we  shall  discuss  the 
meaning  and  purport  of  this  that  we  call  "circumstance." 


CHAPTER  III. 


The  meaning  of  "  Circumstance." — ^It  does  not  imply  Doom  or  Physical 
Necessity,  but  an  ever-present  God  acting  upon  us,  according  to  the 
Laws  of  his  nature  and  the  laws  established  for  us  by  Him,  and  therefore 
good,  —The  question  of  Freedom  diflFerent  from  that  of  Power. 

In  the  last  chapter,  we  have  shown  that  in  each  and  every 
human  action,  two  forces  conspire — the  internal  power  and  the 
external  "  circumstance."  It  is  manifestly  necessary  to  discuss 
the  meaning  of  this  thing  "circumstance." 

Now  the  origin  of  the  word,  I  believe,  is  not  classical,  but  of 
the  Lower  Ages,  and  it  implies  "things  standing  around"  us,  not 
simply  ^^  things"  that  exist,  but  things  that  are  around  and  act 
upon  us. 

And  I  conceive  that  the  word,  whosoever  invented  it,  is  a  good 
and  an  useful  one,  for,  from  birth  to  death,  we  find  that  the  "I," 
the  being  to  which  we  apply  "Personality,"  is  ever  brought  in 
contact  with  external  forces  that  act  upon  it,  modifying  circum- 
stances itself,  and  being  modified  by  them.  And  howsoever  men 
may  exaggerate  the  one  force  or  the  other,  this  is  true, — in  our 
being,  the  internal  force  exists,  nay,  is  at  the  centre  of  the  sphere ; 
and  the   external  force  of  "circumstances," — "circum  stat," 


336  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

"  stands  around,"  is  everywhere  in  contact  with  us.  So  much  for 
the  meaning  of  the  word. 

For  the  meaning  of  the  thing,  how  are  we  to  interpret  it? 
Circumstances  are  manifold,  various,  innumerable.  Are  we  to 
take  it,  that  by  chance  and  accident  they  roll  upon  us,  as  the  sea- 
weed and  marine  rubbish  from  the  storm  rolls  upon  the  rock,  and 
along  with  the  fortuitous  sand  surrounds  it  ?  Are  circumstances 
the  product  of  chance  ? 

Certainly  not.  The  same  marks  of  design,  of  purpose,  of 
will,  which  we  discern  in  the  acts  that  spring  from  ourselves,  and 
which  manifest  them  to  be  those  of  di, person — those  same  evidences 
we  see  in  the  circumstances  that  operate  upon  us. 

If  our  own  acts  are  those  of  a  Person,  the  influences  that  act 
upon  us  show  "Will"  and  "Personality"  as  much.  In  fact,  by 
the  unanimous  agreement  and  sense  of  all  men,  by  all  the  indi- 
cations that  we  have  from  the  thing  itself,  external  Circumstance 
is  taken  to  manifest  an  external  personal  agent.  The  internal 
power  by  which  we  act  upon  outward  things, — this  is  so  far  analo- 
gous to  that  external  power,  that  we  feel  personality  as  ours  is, 
to  be  its  natural  explanation. 

And  corresponding  unto  this  interpretation  is  the  Revelation 
primevally  given,  and  thence  passing  downward  through  the  chan- 
nel of  the  knowledge  of  all  nations,  of  a  Being  that  wields  that 
external  power  that  we  find  to  bear  upon  us ;  against  whom  we 
can  raise  no  ramparts  or  circling  fortress  strong  enough  to  keep 
Him  out :  for,  from  the  Heavens  above.  He  shall  rush  down  upon 
us ;  from  the  earth  beneath,  He  shall  rise  up  against  us :  nay, 
the  very  armour  with  which  we  gird  and  enclose  ourselves  against 
that  Power,  becomes  means  and  ways  of  access  against  us  to  that 
Power. 

Yes, — let  man  as  he  will  cut  himself  away  from  Christianity, 
and  from  Revelation,  and  still,  in  the  sphere  of  Circumstance  by 
which  he  is  enclosed  and  environed,  he  has  evidence  of  another 
power  than  his  own,  that  works  upon  and  modifies  his  action. 
And  even  he  who  in  fact  has  left  God,  he  shall  be  forced  to  say, 

"Who  can  feel  and  dare  to  say,  I  believe  him  not? 
'  The  AU-Embracing,  the  All-Sustaining, 

Does  he  not  embrace  and  sustain  us  himself? 

Does  not  the  heaven  arch  itself  above,  and  earth  lie  firm  below?" 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  337 

Even  such  a  man  as  the  writer*  of  this,  from  the  hare  consi- 
deration of  the  relation  of  an  external  power  to  the  internal 
force,  had  to  confess  an  "  All-emhracer,"  an  "  All-sustainer." 

But  to  the  Christian,  and,  in  fact,  to  all  men,  save  those  that 
have  of  set  design  placed  themselves  apart  from  knowledge,  this 
.fact  and  feeling  receives  its  true  interpretation,  in  the  helief  of  a 
Personal,  Omnipotent,  Omnipresent,  Omniscient  God,  surround- 
ing each  man,  embracing  each  man  within  the  sphere  of  Circum- 
stance. 

Such,  of  the  two  facts  of  the  internal  force  and  of  "  Circum- 
stance," is  the  interpretation  given  by  the  primeval  revelation, 
and  henceforth,  in  the  Tradition  of  the  Nations,  taught  by  one 
generation  perpetually  to  another. 

But,  more  than  this,  the  World,  as  I  have  shown,  is  a  school 
of  probation,  and  teaches  us  this  eternally,  by  the  one  great  idea 
of  Law  perpetually  suggested — the  Law  of  the  Affections,  that 
is,  of  Love  in  the  Family ;  of  Justice  and  Equity  in  the  Nation ; 
of  Holiness  in  the  Church:  and  so  are  "Circumstances"  ar- 
ranged under  these  three  natural  organizations,  that  not  as  a 
God  of  Power  only  He  appears,  but  a  Being  of  Love,  of  Justice, 
of  Holiness ;  for  all  these  moral  qualities  we,  by  the  fact  that  the 
world  is  a  "School  of  Probation,"  must  attribute  to  the  Almighty, 
in  addition  to  that  of  Personality.  God  is  Good,  both  in  name 
and  in  reality;  and  each  idea  of  Him  that  Society  or  Nature 
awakens  in  our  Reason, — each  manifestation  of  his  glory  that  He 
makes  unto  man, — at  the  same  time  enables  us  to  see  in  Him  a 
higher  degree  of  goodness,  to  feel  it,  and  to  reach  after  it.  The 
interpretation,  then,  that  we  give  to  the  action  of  Circumstance 
upon  us,  is  this : — 

First,  that  "  God  is  not  absent," — that  he  has  not  made  the 
world  to  go  by  the  machinery  of  an  all-embracing  Fate,  or  of  an 
universal  physical  law  or  system  of  laws  embracing  all  possible 
contingencies,  and  then  has  departed,  having  by  his  own  ma- 
chinery filled  up  the  world  he  had  made  so  that  he  no  longer 
works  personally  therein,  or  is  therein  present,  save  by  the  De- 
cree or  by  the  Law.  But,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  is  here,  pre- 
sent, acting,  and  that  all  power  comes  from  Am.f     This  is  the 

*  Goethe. 

t  The  reader  will  remember  that  it  is  with  regard  to  the  physical  system 

of  the  universe  that  I  speak  here,  and  not  in  reference  to  the  acta  of  intelli- 

43 


338  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  as  to  God  and  his  acting,  plainly  and 
manifestly  laid  down. 

And  he  that  shall  take  it  and  the  objections  against  it,  and 
then  take  the  mechanical  theory, — whether  the  fatalistic  one  of 
Doom,  or  the  other  of  a  machinery  of  Physical  Laws, — and  the 
objections  against  them, — he  shall  find  more  objections  against- 
the  Unchristian*  than  the  Christian  doctrine. 

The  objections  which  may  be  brought  against  the  Christiah 
doctrine  of  an  ever-present  God,  are  such  as  this :  "  I  see  the 
phenomena  to  be  regular,  and  therefore  I  argue  that  they  are 
effected  hy  a  law,  and  not  by  the  direct  action  of  a  personal 
being." 

To  this  the  answer  is  easy :  Such  arguments  will  exclude  a 
finite  personal  being,  not  an  Infinite.  The  action  of  an  Infinite 
Being  is  and  must  be  regular,  according  to  the  laws  of  Infinite 
Perfection.  Man's  action  is  and  must  be  irregular ;  but  the  ac- 
tion of  God  upon  the  physical  world  is,  and  must  be  by  his  na- 
ture, regular,  according  to  the  law  of  his  perfection.  To  see, 
then,  the  world  so  regular  that  we  can  express  some  sequences  of 
its  events  in  regular  geometrical  formulas,  which  we  call  "Laws," 
this  shows  the  presence  of  an  "  Infinite  Cause,"  whose  acts  are 
regular.  And  to  be  incapable  of  expressing  all,  but  day  by  day 
to  be  attaining  new  perceptions  of  regularity,  this  expresses  the 
same  idea  of  one  cause  working  in  manifold  ways.  The  sense  of 
regularity  excludes  a  finite  personal  agent,  but  not  an  Infinite 
one. 

Again,  it  will  be  said,  "  When  a  personal  being  acts,  we  see 
Will,  but  not  here." 

Will,  we  answer,  in  all  finite  beings,  is  more  or  less  Self- 
will,  more  or  less  capricious,  unsteady,  faulty;  but  the  more 
perfect  it  is,  the  more  it  approaches  to  a  Law.  And  God's  Will 
is  and  must  be  a  Law,  not  capricious,  not  Self-willed  as  is  man's 
Will,  but  uniform.     Hence,  the  actions  of  God's  Will  are  not 

gent  beings.  All  personal  agents  have  the  capability  of  exerting  self-derived 
power  by  their  own  being.  The  evil,  then,  that  they  do,  they  do  themselves : 
God  does  not  do  it.  Spiritual  beings,  of  their  own  nature  and  constitution, 
as  formed  by  the  Almighty,  have  the  capability  of  originating  power,  sepa- 
rate and  apart  from  material  and  physical  causation. 

*  I  say  "  Unchristian,"  because  Fatalism,  in  its  perfection,  has  been  held 
4mly  in  Mohammedan  or  in  pagan  countries. 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  339 

arbitrary  decrees,  but  uniform  laws.  That  no  "Self-will,"  or 
"arbitrariness,"  or  capriciousness,  is  seen,  this  is  so  far  from 
arguing  against  an  Infinite  Agent,  that  it  argues  for  it.  He 
whose  eternal  decrees  are  determined  by  the  eternal  laws  of  his 
nature, — justice,  holiness,  and  truth, — his  Will  must  act  regu- 
larly, and  without  variableness,  caprice,  or  shadow  of  turning. 

But  in  reference  to  all  theories  that  suppose  a  machinery  of 
Doom  or  of  Physical  Law,  the  grand  reply  is,  that  this  supposes 
mere  power,  but  that  our  own  constant  feeling  is  not  of  mere 
power,  but  of  gentleness,  kindness,  mercy,  benevolence,  wisdom, 
forethought, — in  short,  not  of  Power  only,  but  of  all  and  every 
one  of  the  moral  powers  ;  to  beings  possessed  of  which  alone  we 
attribute  personality/.  In  each  "  circumstance"  that  is  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  life  of  man,  we  see  moral  influence  in  manifold 
ways,  not  power  only,  and  therefore  we  naturally  conclude  the 
presence  of  an  Infinite  Moral  Being — that  is,  God. 

This,  then,  is  our  estimate  of  "Circumstance:" — In  reference 
to  its  agent,  it  is  the  external  force  of  the  Will  of  an  Infinite 
Moral  Being,  Personal  and  Ever-Present,  applied  unto  Man. 
And  this  not  according  to  arbitrary  decrees,  or  the  caprice  of 
self-will,  having  no  other  motive  but  its  own  consciousness  of 
power,  but  according  to  the  eternal  laws  of  a  Being  infinitely 
good,  just,  gracious,  holy,  merciful — a  Father,  a  moral  Governor, 
a  God  to  be  worshipped, — and  not  merely  a  being  conceived  as 
possessing  only  the  one  attribute  of  Infinite  Power  and  Will  om- 
nipotent and  unchecked. 

This,  then,  is  the  interpretation : — That  not  the  machinery  of 
an  Infinite  Doom,  or  of  an  all-embracing  physical  law,  but  an 
ever-present  God,  Father,  and  Moral  Governor,  with  a  Will  so 
determined,  creates  all  Circumstances  surrounding  me,  and  by 
them  exerts,  in  all  things,  upon  each  action  of  mine,  an  influence 
whose  extent  I  cannot  comprehend  nor  measure;  which  yet  I 
know  is  not  an  influence  contradictory  to  his  nature,  and,  al- 
though I  see  not  its  end  or  extent,  still  must  consider  it  to  be 
good  and  to  tend  to  good. 

And  while  with  regard  to  the  material  world  I  may  form  sys- 
tems, and  say  that  events  are  bound  together  by  Physical  Laws,  but 
with  regard  to  my  own  voluntary  action  I  must  suppose  it  above 
Physical  Law,  and  to  be  expressed  by  no  formula;  so  with  regard 
to  the  Circumstances  that  bear  upon  me,  no  formula  will  express 


340  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

them,  no  physical  law  embrace  them:  they  show  the  personal 
action  of  a  moral  agent  who  is  ever  present,  acting  voluntarily 
upon  me.  Such  is  the  moral  interpretation  of  "  Circumstance," 
an  interpretation  which  men  put  naturally  and  easily,  which 
agrees  with  the  express  words  of  Scripture,  and  only  by  a  false 
philosophy  can  be  put  aside  from  the  persuasion  of  any  human 
being. 

If  this  explanation  be  true,  then  it  may  be  said,  "  Man  is  not 
free, — for  of  the  two  forces  that  determine  any  act,  and  from 
which  it  results,  one  is  the  finite  Will  of  man, — the  other,  the 
infinite  Will  of  God; — the  Finite  must  ever  be  overpowered  by 
the  Infinite." 

In  answer  to  this,  we  say  that  the  force  put  forth  hy  a  being  of 
Infinite  Power  is  not  necessarily  infinite.  God  has  infinite 
power,  but  in  his  dealings  with  man,  of  his  own  will  he  modifies  his 
power.  When  my  finite  will  comes  in  contact  with  an  obstacle 
and  overcomes  it,  such  an  amount  of  hindrance  has  been  put  in 
my  way  as  I  can  overcome;  and  I  can  easily  conceive,  that 
for  wise  purposes  the  infinite  God  might  have  put  only  such 
an  amount, — and  yet  it  certainly  is  not  the  less  an  exertion  of 
His  power. 

Again,  he  may  put  such  an  amount  as  will  be  insuperable ; 
according  then  to  His  measure,  which  is  Sis  wisdom,  He  may 
direct  his  influences  upon  us,  so  that  in  various  ways  our  actions 
shall  be  modified.  But  in  each  circumstance  the  influence  of 
the  finite  Will  is  seen,  and  the  influence  of  the  Infinite. 

This  then  is  the  result : — Central  amid  a  sphere  of  Circum- 
stances, man  feels  that  external  things  and  actions  he  can  modify 
by  an  internal  power.  He  feels,  too,  that  they  can  and  do  modify 
his  action.  These  two  forces  he  is  conscious  of  in  each  action  of 
life,  and  the  sum  total  of  life  is  made  up  of  the  results  of  these 
two.  He,  therefore,  by  his  constitution  feels  these  both  to  exist ; 
he  feels  that  one  does  not  annihilate  the  other,  but  that  both 
coexist,  the  Free-will  of  Man,  the  Power  of  God. 

This  he  knows  by  his  own  knowledge,  and  his  own  feeling  of  his 
actions  both  singly  and  in  the  mass,  and  it  is  in  vain  to  argue  the 
non-existence  of  the  one  or  the  other.  Such  arguments  to  all  men 
are  mere  verbal  knots  that  touch  not  the  reality  of  things.  The 
question  is  a  simple  one :  "  Do  I,  by  action  springing  from  an 
internal,  self-guiding  power,  modify  external  circumstance  ?"     If 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  341 

a  man  knows  this  to  be  so,  according  to  his  own  experience,  then 
argument  against  it  is  mere  babbling,  mere  talk.  For  the  thing 
must  be  decided  by  man's  consciousness  of  the  fact,  and  not  by 
metaphysics.  If  a  man  be  conscious  that  it  is  so,  and  the  race 
generally  have  the  same  consciousness,  millions  of  treatises  are 
unavailing  against  the  fact  of  such  self-knowledge. 

The  question  of  the  existence  of  Free-will  is  sometimes 
confused  with  another,  as  to  the  extent  of  its  results.  "  Have  I 
the  power,  according  to  internal  choice,  to  modify  external  cir- 
cumstances more  or  less?" — this  is  the  question  of  Free-will. 
"What  is  the  extent  of  that  modification  ?"  is  a  different  question. 
"  Can  I  do  what  I  will,  uncontrolled  by  any  outward  power  ?" 
This  does  not  ask  "Am  I  free  ?"  but  "Am  I  omnipotent  ?" 

The  question  as  to  the  extent  of  the  power  of  a  Free  agent  is 
quite  a  different  one  from  the  question  of  his  Freedom.  God  may 
grant  me  such  a  power  of  Will,  that  all  external  circumstances 
that  come  in  contact  with  me  shall  be  ruled,  swayed,  and  governed 
by  it.  He  may  grant  me  no  such  power  of  Will,  and  yet  make 
the  outward  Circumstances  to  yield  to  my  weakness.  And  so  in 
manifold  ways  may  modify,  guide,  govern,  direct,  teach,  rule ;  but 
all  this  action  is  according  to  the  laws  of  Ms  infinite  being.  And 
if  evil  is  brought  about,  it  is  not  of  Crod's  action  upon  man,  but 
by  his  permission  that  it  exists. 

The  rules  of  his  action  are  the  laws  of  his  eternal  being. 
Thus  "  God  cannot  lie,"  the  Scripture  tells  us :  this  we  shall  take 
for  a  law  of  his  being, — no  power  of  God,  then,  can  make  man 
lie.  "God  cannot  sin;" — God's  Almighty  power,  then,  cannot 
pre-doom  man  to  sin,  and  so  forth. 

And  again,  God  is  of  himself  infinitely  free ;  he  has  made  man 
free ;  it  is  a  part  of  his  constitution  established  by  God ;  God,  then, 
cannot  make  man  un-free,  save  by  annihilating  the  constitution 
he  has  made.  In  like  manner,  he  cannot  make  two  bodies  at 
once  to  occupy  the  same  space,  because  it  is  a  fact  of  the  con- 
stitution of  body,  that  it  cannot  be  so.  So  it  is  a  part  of  the 
constitution  of  man  that  he  shall  be  free,  that  of  each  action, 
one  force  should  be  the  power  of  man's  Will,  and  the  other  a 
portion  of  external  power,  brought  to  operate  upon  him  by  the 
Will  of  God,  for  his  most  holy  and  most  secret  purposes. 

This,  then,  I  conceive  to  be  the  interpretation  of  "Cir- 
cumstance;" that  it  shows  neither  Chance,  nor  yet  Fate,  but  a 


342  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Personal  and  Ever-present  Being,  Almighty,  All-just,  and  All-holy, 
directing,  according  to  his  wisdom,  a  portion  of  his  power  upon  us. 

And  from  that  external  power  and  our  internal  power,  both 
existing  in  each  act,  all  our  acts  do  come. 

And  the  relative  proportions  of  these  two  forces  we  know  not, 
only  that  they  both  exist,  and  that  the  power  of  God  works  upon 
us,  not  according  to  caprice,  but  according  to  the  Laws  of  His 
Being,  and  according  to  the  Constitution  wherewith  he  ha& 
framed  us. 

These  are  practical  decisions,  which  the  experience  and  know- 
ledge of  our  race  has  a  thousand  times  aflSrmed,  and  which  only 
false  philosophy  as  to  the  nature  of  God,  the  being  of  this  world, 
and  the  constitution  of  man  could  deny. 

We  have  placed  them  here  because,  so  placed,  they  will  enable 
us,  in  their  light,  more  fully  to  examine  the  internal  power  which 
thus  acts  along  with  the  external  power  of  God.  We  shall  go  on, 
then,  in  the  next  chapter,  to  examine  the  nature  of  the  internal 
power  which  we  call  the  Will,  as  to  the  modes  of  its  action,  whicb 
we  before  have  enumerated. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Will  has  a  Power  of  Resistance  to  Motive. — Motives  upon  the  Will  do 
not  act  necessarily. — ^The  evil  Results  of  Fatalism. — ^Analogy  to  the  Will 
and  its  Motives  of  the  Concurrence  of  Forces,  Mechanical,  Chemical,  and 
Vital. — ^Brute  Animals  are  really  and  truly  what  the  Fatalist  thinks  Man 
to  be. — Man  has  a  Will :  Brutes  have  properly  no  Will. — The  question 
of  Free-wiU  is  a  practical  one. — As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  Men  whose 
Will  is  not  free.— The  Two  Wills:  The  "Will  of  the  Flesh,"  and  the 
Spiritual  Will. — Society  trains  the  Will. — The  Spiritual  Law  sets  the  Will 
de  facto  free. — Examples  from  Conscience,  the  Reason,  the  Heart. 

Having  thus  examined  the  nature  of  Circumstance,  and  shown 
that  herein  the  power  of  man  meets  with  and  is  united  with  the 
power  of  God,  we  go  forward  to  examine  the  nature  of  the  Will 
in  itself. 

The  Will  is  "  inward  and  spiritual :"  this  is  the  first  part  of 
our  definition.     By  this  we  mean  that  the  faculty,  as  far  as  it  is 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  343 

a  faculty  of  our  nature,  is  one  that  belongs  to  man  as  a  Spiritual 
being. 

The  answer  is  not  hard  to  this  question : — "  Admit  that  your 
Will  is  capable  of  being  influenced  by  external  motives — has  it 
yet  such  a  power  that  all  these,  by  its  own  internal  force,  it  can 
reject,  and  go  contrary  to  the  course  they  indicate  ?"  If  this  be 
80,  it  is  internal,  and,  at  the  same  time.  Spiritual. 
.  Is  there  an  inward  power  by  which,  giving  riches  their  full 
value,  and  on  certain  occasions  pursuing  them, — upon  certain  other 
occasions  I  shall  permit  the  desire  of  them  to  have  no  power  over 
my  actions  ?  Is  there  an  inward  force  by  which,  desiring  food,  I 
shall,  at  certain  times  and  upon  certain  occasions, — abstain  from 
it  ?  desiring  pleasure, — I  shall  resist  it  ?  being  tempted  to  evil, — I 
shall  oppose  the  temptation  ?  being  excited  unto  anger, — I  shall 
yet  quell  it  ?  Certainly :  every  child  feels  within  himself  this 
power  of  resistance.  He  may  not  feel  it  to  a  perfect  degree ;  but 
a  power  he  does  feel  whose  faculty  this  is,  and  which  may  be 
brought  to  greater  perfection  by  exercise.  It  is  a  testimony  of 
all  men,  that  there  exists  in  all  this  internal  power  of  resistance 
to  external  inducements  to  action. 

We  shall  put  the  question  again,  in  this  way : — "  Cause  and 
Effect,"  we  shall  say,  "  in  Physical  Science,  is  a  law  absolute 
and  certain.  In  consequence  of  this,  it  is  in  Physics  a  true 
axiom,  '  Like  causes  produce  like  effects,'  and  therefore,  without 
exception,  when  you  find  the  identity  of  cause,  from  it  invariably 
follows  the  identity  of  effect  in  physical  science."  This  we  believe 
to  be  invariably  true.  Now,  "Motive"  we  shall  define  to  be  an 
"  external  cause  of  action."  Is  the  law  of  "  cause  and  effect"  true 
in  reference  to  human  actions  ?  If  it  be,  the  same  amount  of  exter- 
nal cause  shall  always  produce  the  same  effect — the  Will  shall  al- 
ways he  determined  hy  motives,  and  shall  not  be  free  in  any  way. 

But  each  man's  reason  can  tell  him  that  it  is  not  so — that 
although  Motives  to  action  are  upon  the  will  as  "causes"  in 
Physical  Philosophy,  still  there  is  an  internal  power  of  resist- 
ance, by  which  the  "effect"  of  motives  is  limited  in  a  very  ex- 
ceeding degree,  so  that  no  amount  of  "  motive"  shall  compel  or 
force  or  determine,  physically,  the  Will  of  any,  if  it  freely  from 
within  resist. 

And  so  the  law  of  "  cause  and  effect,"  however  well  it  may  do 
in  Physics,  has  no  power  in  Ethics.    No  external  motives  compel 


344  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

or  necessarily  determine  the  "  Will  of  man."  Apart  from  reli- 
gion, we  shall  say,  even  the  weakest  and  the  most  vicious  knows 
that  his  acts  are  uncompelled — that  the  external  temptation  may 
have  been  very  strong,  but  yet  never  so  strong  as  to  necessitate 
his  action  upon  it. 

So  would  it  seem  that  man  has  an  inward  force,  which,  even 
while  he  is  in  the  world,  sets  him  free,  by  a  faculty  dwelling  in 
him,  from  the  general  laws  of  Physics,  and  puts  his  action  upon 
a  loftier  ground, — an  inward  power  of  resistance  to  the  causation 
of  outward  motives.  This  is  a  fact  of  our  knowledge ;  we  see  it 
with  regard  to  ourselves,  and  we  see  it  in  our  intercourse  with 
our  fellow  men.  And  they  who  deny  it,  either  do  so  out  of 
vicious  motives,  that  they  may  be  enabled  to  cast  the  blame  of 
their  vices  upon  external  circumstances,  as  the  woman  and  the 
man,  our  first  parents,  in  paradise,  did,  or  else  they  do  so  under 
a  false  notion  that  by  applying  the  doctrine  of  "  Cause  and  Ef- 
fect" to  the  Spiritual  part  of  man,  in  the  shape  of  "motive"  and 
"determination,"  they  thereby  do  honour  to  God's  power,  by 
making  man's  acts,  all  of  them,  to  be  determined  and  doomed  of 
God.  A  false  philosophy  this,  and  one  that  would  be  immoral, 
but  for  the  fact  that  the  very  men  that  preach  it  do  not  act  upon 
it,  but  in  their  every  act  of  life  proclaim  that  they  believe  it 
untrue. 

And  yet,  as  Mohammed  and  Gengis  and  Bonaparte  bear  wit- 
ness, not  without  its  danger  is  this  dogma.  For  never  in  the 
course  of  history  has  military  and  religious  frenzy  been  united, 
that  it  has  not  for  its  fulcrum  had  this  doctrine,  that  human 
action  is  predoomed  by  an  irresistible  chain  of  external  motive. 
This  is  that  force  that  urged  the  swarthy  Saracen  over  half  the 
world,  until  the  larger  frames  and  sterner  souls  of  the  Frankish 
war-king  and  his  Germans  flung  back  from  France  and  Europe 
the  tide  of  Mohammedan  invasion,  and  the  light  limbs  and 
slender  sabre  of  the  Arab  were  crushed  by  the  iron  mace  of 
Charles   Martel.*     This  that  doctrine   that   drove  the   count- 

*  Charles  the  Hammerman,  so  called  from  his  weapon  and  his  exploits  ia 
the  great  battle  at  Poitiers,  against  the  host  of  the  Arab  general  Abdep- 
rhame.  But  for  this  victory,  Europe,  historians  say,  had  been  Mohamme- 
dan. But  men  are  made  for  their  times ;  and  if  a  Mohammed  is  sent  to 
wreak  God's  vengeance  against  a  corrupt  church  and  a  degenerate  nation, 
again  a  Charles  Martel  is  raised  up  to  turn  back  the  scourge. 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  345 

les8  hordes  of  Tartar  horsemen  over  the  world,  and  made  China 
and  Russia,  Persia  and  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  the  wild 
regions  of  Siberia,  alike  to  groan  and  tremble  at  the  barbarous 
names  of  Baatou  and  Houlagou,  the  vicegerents  of  the  "  Uni- 
versal Sovereign,"  "Lord  Predestined  of  the  Universe  !"*  •  This 
also  the  doctrine  that  urged  incessantly  for  two  centuries  the  iLili- 
tary  fanaticism  of  Turkey  against  European  civilization. 

And  this  the  doctrine  of  each  vain  man  who,  living  like  an 
animal,  has  not  cultivated  his  moral  or  spiritual  powers,  but  has 
permitted  his  Conscience  to  cry  in  vain,  has  lived  without  the 
control  of  Reason,  has  given  up  his  heart  inwardly  to  Selfishness, 
Sensuality,  and  Self-will,  merely  keeping  up  decent  appearance, 
and  complying  with  the  outward  requirements  of  society.  And 
such  a  man,  with  his  moral  faculty  wholly  uncultivated — the  fort- 
ress it  was  given  to  protect  wholly  unguarded — this  man,  hav- 
ing neglected  all  inward  moral  preparation,  yields  to  outward 
temptation,  and  then  cries  out,  "  It  was  too  strong  for  my  Will, 
and  determined  it!"  and  "I  was  predoomed !"  or  "  Overpowered 
by  the  influence  of  circumstances !" 

I  do  not  say  that  they  who  hold  this  doctrine  are  always 
vicious ;  for,  as  I  have  said  before,  nature  often  corrects  the 
effect  of  doctrine  that  is  untrue  to  it,  and  truly  pious  men  have 
held  it.  But  this  I  do  say,  that  history  represents  it  as  an  ele- 
ment that  gives  an  immense  strength  to  military  fanaticism ;  and 
the  experience  of  life  and  nature  tell  me,  that  whatsoever  may  be 
its  effects  upon  the  good,  when  believed  in  hy  the  weak  or  the  had, 
or  taught  to  them,  it  is  a  ready  excuse  for  all  vice,  a  ready  means 
of  shifting  blame  from  themselves,  and  justifying  a  continuance 
in  sin.  And  this  the  author  has  seen,  both  in  case  of  the  Fatal- 
ism of  Absolute  Predestination,  and  the  Fatalism  that  supposes 
our  affections  and  moral  state  to  be  the  consequence  of  mere 
physical  organization,  f 

*  "  The  nation  held  a  convention  on  the  banks  of  the  Sellinga.  A  Khodsha, 
or  Sage,  revered  for  his  age  and  virtues,  rose  up  in  the  assembly,  and  said, 
Brethren,  I  have  seen  a  vision.  The  Cheat  God  of  Heaven,  on,  his  flaming 
throne,  surrounded  by  the  spirits  on  high,  sat  in  Judgment  on  the  nations  of 
the  earth:  sentence  wa^  pronounced,  and  A«  gave  the  dominion  of  the  vxtrld  to 
our  chief,  Temudsin,  whom  Tie  appointed  Gengis  Khan,  or  Universal  Sove- 
reign." — Universal  History,  by  John  von  Muller. 

t  The  author  here  alludes  to  the  principles  that  ensue  from  the  doctrines 
of  Combe  on  the  Constitution  of  Man. 

44 


346  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

The  author  then  will  be  asked,  does  lie  suppose  this  internal 
power  of  resistance  in  the  Will  to  external  motive  to  be,  in  its 
immediate  action,  entirely  free  from  the  law  of  "  cause  and  effect," 
so  that  if  the  man  will,  he  can  resist  the  highest  and  weightiest 
motives  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him,  or  admit  the  very 
feeblest  and  weakest. 

I  consider  that  it  is  so ;  that  so  far  the  Will  of  man,  when 
under  its  law,  is  independent  of  the  law  of  Causation.  And  this 
as  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  man,  in  virtue  of  his  being  a  spi- 
ritual being,  made  in  the  image  of  God.  I  consider  that  of  the 
Almighty,  all  His  acts  are  from  within,  none  caused  from  without, 
so  that  He  is  purely,  perfectly,  absolutely  free.  And  so  he  has 
made  man  that  he  has  the  inward  power  of  Will,  capable,  under 
its  law,*  of  resisting  all  external  motive,  how  weighty  so  ever  it 
be ;  that  he  has  this  power  as  a  spiritual  being,  endued  with  the 
faculty  by  God. 

Men  may  say  this  is  speculation, — "  man  is  body,  and  under 
the  laws  of  body." 

And  we  say,  "No  more  than  it  is  speculation  to  say  Man  has 
eyes."  The  fact  every  one  knows  and  acknowledges  to  himself 
and  to  others  a  hundred  times  every  day  of  his  life.  We  admit, 
then,  that  man  is  body, — and  we  say  more,  we  say  man  is 
matter,  and  subject  to  the  law  of  matter;  man  is  living  or 
animal  body,  and  subject  to  its  law;  and  man  is  spirit,  and  sub- 
ject to  its  law ;  the  laws  coexist,  and  the  higher  outrules  the  lower. 
The  man  is  matter, — the  mechanical  forces  then  act  upon  each 
particle  of  his  frame;  the  chemical  forces,  too,  act  upon  him 
as  matter,  and  their  result  would  be 'decay;  but  he  is  also  an. 
animal  body,  and  the  vital  forces  neutralize  the  chemical  and  me- 
chanical forces,  and  cause  their  effects  not  to  ensue.  And  so  say 
we :  the  mere  physical  motives  would  have  overcome  man,  if  he 
were  only  an  animal ;  but  since  he  is  a  spiritual  being  as  well, 
he  has  the  power  of  resistance  by  an  inward  Will  that  is  not 
animal,  but  spiritual.  The  truth  of  this  to  nature  and  to  our  con- 
stitution may  be  seen  from  the  above  analogy. 

And  this  leads  us  to  the  remark  that  the  brute  animals  do 
really  and  entirely  fulfil  the  notion  of  beings  led  altogether  by 
circumstance ;  for  in  them  we  see  that  external  motives,  appealing 

*  See  the  next  chapter. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  347 

to  animal  desires,  invariably  bring  about  the  same  result,  act  as 
cause  and  effect  in  determining  action, — suflScient  cause  producing 
the  proportionate  action  invariably.  Nor  is  there,  in  the  brute, 
any  power  of  internal  resistance,  that  cannot  be  overcome  by  an 
additional  force  of  external  motive.  Instincts  are  irresistible  in 
the  animal  nature,  and  appetites  in  their  nature  addressed  by 
external  motives  in  sufl&cient  degree,  can  become  irresistible; 
such  motives  are  incapable  of  being  resisted ;  in  fact,  there  is  no 
internal  power  to  resist  them. 

The  man  of  the  Fatalist  is  no  real  man,  made  in  the  image  of 
God  with  a  Spiritual  Nature,  and  having  thence  free-will  as  a 
faculty ;  only  in  those  vertebrated  mammalia  that  are  the  likest  in 
physical  organization  unto  man,  the  pongo  or  the  ourang-outang, 
is  it  realized. 

It  may,  perhaps,  add  a  good  deal  of  clearness  to  these  illus- 
trations, if  we  ask,  since  the  animals  act,  and  have  therefore 
some  guidance  unto  their  action,  what  is  there  in  them  that 
corresponds  to  the  "Will"?  We  answer,  that  the  immediate 
desircj  which  is  the  strongest  towards  any  thing  external,  that  is  to 
them  for  a  "Will."  The  Desires,  as  it  were,  reign  by  turns  in 
them,  and,  answering  to  the  variety  of  external  motive,  each 
Desire,  in  its  turn,  is  in  some  measure  a  sort  of  Will.  The  exter- 
nal allurement  addresses  the  animal  appetite,  so  as  to  arouse  it 
into  action,  and  this  rushes  onward  toward  the  outward  object, 
with  a  force  that  leads  the  whole  animal :  thus,  in  them  animal 
desire  is  produced  by  "  external  motive,"  under  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect;  the  motive  producing  the  emotion  of  the  appetite, 
and  that  again  the  action  of  the  animal  according  to  that  law. 
And  we  must  say  that,  in  most  cases,  it  is  not  a  single  motive, 
but  a  complication  of  motives  external,  and  that  these  tend  gene- 
rally to  the  preservation  of  the  animal,  and  to  its  uses  in  the 
system  of  Nature,  as  of  course  we  should  expect  from  the  creation 
of  a  Being  infinitely  wise. 

But  the  general  distinction  that  man  has  by  his  nature  a  "  Will 
capable  of  resisting  all  motives  from  without,  how  weighty  and 
forcible  soever,"  and  that  the  animals,  on  the  contrary,  are  wholly 
and  entirely  governed  by  Desire,  external  circumstances  acting 
upon  their  appetites,  according  to  the  law  of  cause  and  effect, 
this  I  count  so  generally  true,  that  every  one  at  once  will  see  the 
distinction  in  Will  between  man  and  animals.     Man  has  a  Will 


348  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

inward,  and  spiritual,  and  free ;  animals  an  appetite,  wholly 
animal,  and  under  the  dominion  of  outward  motive.  Animals 
properly  have  no  will. 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  examination  of  a  most  important 
question  with  regard  to  the  action  of  man.  We  have  shown  that 
there  is  no  action  of  man's  life  wherein  will  not  come  in  man's 
power;  and  then  that  man  is  not  a  puppet  or  a  machine,  driven 
by  irresistible  power,  and  dreaming  that  he  moves  when  he  only 
seems  to  move,  but  that  in  all  circumstances  he  has  power  coming 
from  himself:  we  have  shown,  too,  that  he  has  an  internal  faculty 
whereby  he  can  resist  all  motives  coming  from  without,  and 
accordingly  admit  or  not  admit  their  influence.  And  from  this 
last  train  of  argument  and  illustration  that  we  have  employed, 
our  readers  may  see  that  this  power  of  free-will  is  a  natural 
faculty  of  his  constitution,  not  animal,  but  spiritual  and  internal. 
And  now  comes  the  question  of  fact,  "as  to  Free  Action  upon 
Tree-will, — how  far  is  man  free?" 

This  I  conceive  to  be  a  plain  matter-of-fact  question,  as  to 
each  individual  of  our  race, — a  practical  and  scientific  question 
also,  which,  in  this  last  point  of  view,  may  be  put  in  this  way : 
"  Seeing  that  I  have  the  faculty,  by  my  constitution,  of  freedom, 
how  shall  I  train  it  so  that  the  power  in  itself  and  in  its  action 
shall  attain  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  ?  And,  on  the  con- 
trary, what  is  that  course  of  action  by  which,  if  I  pursue  it,  the 
faculty  may  be  so  injured  as  to  lose  its  natural  powers,  and  not 
to  have  its  natural  efiects?"  This  to  answer,  I  conceive,  would 
be  to  examine  the  subject  practically  and  scientifically,  with  a 
view  to  life.     We  shall  proceed,  then,  to  this  examination. 

Now,  taking  it  for  granted  that  man's  power  manifests  itself, 
and  is  not  wholly  extinguished  in  any,  and  that  each  one  has  this 
faculty  of  resisting  outward  motive  according  to  an  inward  power ; 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  there  men  that  do  not  exert  this  power, 
but  are  led  as  the  animals,  by  external  circumstances,  and  there- 
fore are  not,  in  fact  and  in  effect,  free  f 

We  answer,  and  each  one  who  has  looked  upon  the  world  can 
answer,  that  in  fact  and  in  effect  there  are  men  so  led,  and  not 
free.  And  secondly,  that  the  men  themselves,  every  man  and 
all  men  that  are  under  such  bondage,  know  that  it  is  not  by  an 
external  irresistible  power  they  have  been  so  enslaved,  nor  by 
the  want  of  an  internal  faculty  of  resistance,  but  because  of 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  349 

themselves  that  they  have  not  used  that  faculty  they  had,  habit- 
ually,* and  under  the  guidance  and  governance  of  the  Conscience, 
the  Reason,  and  the  Affections. 

And  the  situation  of  persons  under  such  bondage,  we  shall  see 
to  be  truly  and  really  the  situation  of  brute  animals,  roused  to 
action,  and  stimulated  by  the  animal  appetite,  and  the  outward 
circumstance  that  awakens  and  excites  that  appetite,  so  that  the 
peculiar  desire,  whatsoever  it  be,  takes  the  place  of  the  Will  in 
the  man,  and  iS  to  him  for  a  Will. 

This  is  the  state  of  the  man  that  is  enslaved.  We  have  seen 
gluttons,  and  drunkards,  and  licentious  men,  and  liars,  and  misers, 
and  vain  men,  and  ambitious  men ;  and  while  we  saw  the  faculty 
or  power  in  them  of  Free-will  to  exist,  we  saw  that  in  effect  they 
were  "  slaves,"  as  much  perhaps  as  if  the  faculty  had  no  action 
and  no  existence.  And  we  saw,  moreover,  that  in  each  step 
of  their  progress  towards  this  state,  their  own  power  and  their 
own  Will  had  been  exerted  suicidally,  until  both  power  and 
Will,  as  against  the  ruling  appetite,  ceased  almost  to  have  any 
being. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  have  seen  a  drunkard,  who,  against  all 
motives  of  religion,  against  all  of  reason  and  conscience,  against 
all  of  happiness  and  self-interest,  knowing  that  he  was  ruining 
and  destroying  his  own  life,  and  rendering  miserable  all  those 
that  he  loved  and  was  bounden  to, — and  against  all  this,  the  man 
indulged  the  one  appetite,  and  would  indulge  it.  Now,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  that  man's  Will  was  in  bondage,  he  was  not  free. 
And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
that  are  so. 

Is  it  not,  then,  just  as  well,  while  we  admit  that  in  all  Man's 
acts,  his  own  power  comes  in,  and  that  he  ever  has  the  faculty 
of  Free-will,  to  consider  these  cases  that  are  before  our  eyes, 
and,  instead  of  arguing  that  they  are  free,  and  closing  our  eyes 
to  the  fact  that  they  are  not,  to  examine  how  the  faculty  may 
become  diseased  and  lose  its  strength  and  its  power,  and  the  man 
become  a  slave.  Abstract  proofs  that  "  all  men  have  the  faculty 
and  power  of  sight,"  avail  not  much  to  him  whose  eyes  are  dis- 
eased so  that  he  cannot  see ;  nor  will  the  fullest  demonstration ■ 
of  the  laws  of  Optics  be  of  much  use  to  him :  the  practic 

*  See  particularly  the  chapter  upon  Habit,  and  generally,  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  books  of  this  treatise. 


350  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

science  of  the  surgeon  is  much  better  in  such  a  case  than  the 
abstract  theory  of  the  philosopher. 

We  are  treating  of  the  "Will"  ethically,  with  a  view  to  practice, 
and  not  metaphysically ;  and  we  remark  that,  having  established 
as  a  fact  of  the  constitution  and  being  of  man,  a  faculty  of  free- 
dom— and  as  a  fact  of  man's  position,  that  he  is  not  actuated  by 
an  irresistible  power  not  his  own, — these  two  things  being  esta- 
blished, then, — as  a  matter  of  fact  and  of  daily  experience,  men  are 
in  action  oftentimes  as  completely  enslaved  as  any  of  the  animals 
that  have  no  will. 

We  shall  go  on  to  examine  thi^  state  of  disease,  the  causes 
and  the  cure  of  it.  And  we  shall  ask  our  readers  to  go  along 
with  us  and  to  realize  our  principles,  and  if  they  think  them  true, 
to  employ  them  upon  their  own  life,  and  upon  the  life  of  others 
dependent  upon  them.  This,  then,  brings  us  onward  towards 
another  part  of  the  examination  that  is  very  important,  and  is, 
in  fact,  a  further  step  in  our  progress.  The  fact  that  there  are 
two  wills*  in  man,  if  we  may  use  the  phrase  :  he  is  an  animal,  he 
is  also  a  spiritual  being ;  as  an  animal,  he  has  the  Animal  Mind, 
which  corresponds  to  external  things  and  external  motives,  which, 
were  he  an  animal  only,  would  place  him  as  all  the  animals  that 
have  no  spiritual  faculties  are,  completely  under  the  power  of 
external  circumstances;  that  is,  completely  in  bondage  and  in 
slavery.  And  this  appetite  perpetually  exists  in  him,  being  an 
animal ;  external  appeals  to  it  perpetually  arise ;  and  the  tendency 
of  them  is  to  have  their  full  force  to  produce  action  in  him  neces- 
sarily, and  therefore  to  enslave  him,  in  one  point  of  view  to  cir- 
cumstance, and  in  another  to  his  own  appetites. 

Now,  this  animal  will  that  is  in  man,  this  perpetual  tendency 
to  follow  Desire,  and  to  be  under  the  control  of  outward  circum- 
stance, this  is  called  in  Scripture  the  Will  of  the  Flesh ;  and  the 
man  that  considers  it  shall  see  that  it  is  indeed  a  power  in  man 
which  is  the  insubordinacy,  the  ingovernance  of  the  lower  part 
of  his  nature,  which,  were  he  without  the  spiritual  faculty  of  the 
Will,  in  despite  of  Reason,  and  Conscience,  and  the  Affections, 
would  make  him  even  as  the  other  animals,  but  most  wretched, 
inasmuch  as  then  he  would  feel  the  Good  and  love  it,  and  yet  be 
enslaved  to  the  Evil. 

*  We  use  the  word  not  acientifically,  but  in  ordinary  language,  and  not 
strictly. 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  351 

And  then,  if  a  man  look  at  the  true  Will,  he  shall  find  that 
it,  by  the  power  we  have  specified,  can  resist  these  mere  external 
motives,  this  is  its  faculty, — and  thus  free  the  man  from  the  out- 
ward dominion  of  circumstance  and  motive,  so  that  he  shall  not  be 
governed  by  them. 

Now,  were  man's  nature  perfect,  "that  is,  free  entirely  from  the 
deficiency  and  inability  of  the  spiritual  powers  that  is  the  conse- 
quence of  Original  Sin,"  his  Will  would  be  perfect  also,  and  his 
nature  in  entire  subordination ;  and  then  this  that  we  call  "  the 
Will  of  the  Flesh,"  would  exist  only  as  desire  completely  con- 
trolled by  the  Will;  and  the  man,  as  far  as  internal  desire  and 
external  temptation  is  concerned,  would  rule  himself  according  to 
the  measure  of  a  Will  perfectly  free  from  disease  and  deficiency. 

This,  to  use  cases  often  cited,  was  the  case  with  Adam  and  the 
case  with  Christ  our  Lord.  Adam  had  the  most  perfect  control 
of  his  Will  over  his  animal  part,  yet  he  could  sin ;  and  this  possi- 
bility of  sinning  shows  the  essay  of  outward  circumstance  upon 
him.  And  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  he  too  "  was  tempted  in  all 
points,  like  as  we  are,"  he  had  all  parts  of  human  nature  as  we 
have,  the  Animal  part  as  well  as  the  Spiritual,  and  we  find  that 
external  circumstances  acted  as  temptations  upon  Him.  And  yet 
the  "Will"  was  perfect  in  him  through  the  Godhead  supporting 
the  Humanity,  so  that  he  sinned  not.  So  1  suppose  it  must  be 
with  the  perfect  nature, — the  Will  is  perfect  in  its  functions,  and 
consequently  the  Will  of  the  flesh  does  not  exist,  save  as  desire 
governed^  and  directed,  and  perfectly  subordinate  to  the  superior 
spiritual  power. 

But  has  not  man  the  faculty  yet  ?  Certainly  he  has.  His 
own  feeling  shows  him  that  he  has,  but  the  same  feeling  tells  him 
also,  that  it  is  impaired  in  its  powers,  that  it  is  injured  in  its 
functions  and  in  its  effects.  This  is  the  universal  feeling  of  man, 
and  his  universal  experience.  And  this  also  is  the  experience  of 
each  individual  of  us.  Now,  this  of  the  Will,  that  it  is  impaired 
in  its  functions  and  in  its  effects, — this  is  the  consequence  of 
Original  Sin. 

Thus,  through  this  faculty  also  of  the  Spiritual  Nature  is  car- 
ried on  the  great  problem  of  contradictions.  "I  can  rule  and 
govern  myself,  and  I  will  do  it,"  says  one,  feeling  truly ; — and  the 
interpretation  pf  it  is  this :  "  I  have  by  nature  a  faculty  whose 
function  and  effect  is  self-goyernance,  and  I  fully  wish  and  desire 


352  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

to  employ  that  faculty."  And  then  the  other  side  as  truly  says, 
"  I  cannot  rule  and  govern  myself,  nor  am  I  able," — a  truth  also, 
the  interpretation  of  which  is,  that  this  natural  and  spiritual 
faculty  of  the  Will  is  decayed  and  -weakened"  in  function  and 
f  eflfect,  so  that  only  very  imperfectly  does  it  fulfil  its  uses.  The 
two  truths  of  nature  that  are  contradictory,  both  being  true  in 
the  solution  given  of  the  existence  of  the  faculty  as  an  endowment 
of  our  Spiritual  Being,  and  of  its  injury  by  Original  Sin. 

If  this  be  so,  one  would  say,  "  Shall  not  life  then  be  an  inter- 
nal struggle  between  the  faculty  whereby  man  is  free,  the  Will, 
and  that  other  inclination  called  the  'Will  of  the  flesh,'  or  the 
animal  desire  ?" 

Certainly  it  shall  be  so.  If  man  were  a  beast  as  the  beasts 
are,  without  any  Spiritual  Nature,  and  therefore  without  the  Will, 
and  completely  under  the  dominion  of  external  things, — he  would 
feel  no  misery  because  of  this,  being  a  brute :  if  he  had  the 
faculty  of  Will  perfect  in  itself  and  in  its  action,  then  would  he 
have  under  his  dominion  completely  that  external  desire,  and  he 
would  be  happy.  But  now  he  has  the  faculty,  weakened  and 
unable ;  and  therefore,  sometimes  overcoming,  sometimes  being 
overcome : — there  is  then  by  nature  in  him  a  strife  in  his  nature, 
which  is  in  his  very  being,  and  exists  in  its  existence,  and  cannot 
be  stopped  or  put  an  end  to  by  any  thing  save  that  which  will 
restore  the  Will  unto  its  whole  power. 

That  strife  is  in  all  men  by  nature ; — all  have  felt  it,  and  all 
must  feel  it,  for  it  is  in  their  being.  Xenophon,  before  the 
coming  of  Christ,  testifies  to  the  existence  of  that  strife.  Seneca, 
too,  a  Heathen,  in  his  fifty-second  Epistle,  testifies  the  same 
thing :  "  What  is  this,  Lucilius,  which,  while  we  are  going  one 
way,  drags  us  another,  and  impels  us  thither  from  whence  we  are 
struggling  to  recede  ?  What  is  this  that  struggles  with  our  souly 
and  never  permits  us  to  will  any  thing  ?  We  vacillate  between 
two  opinions :  we  will  nothing  freely,  nothing  perfectly,  nothing 
always." 

Again,  the  trite  lines, 

Video  meliora  proboque 
Deteriora  sequor, 

bear  witness  to  the  same  feeling  and  the  same  experience.     And 
Lactantius,  in  his  treatise  upon  true  wisdom,  has  put  into  the 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  353 

mouth  of  a  Heathen  these  words :  "I  wish,  indeed,  not  to  sin ; 
but  I  am  overcome,  for  I  am  clothed  in  weak  and  frail  flesh. 
This  it  is  which  lusts,  which  grows  angry,  which  grieves,  which 
fears  to  die.  And  so  I  am  led  away  against  my  will,  and  I  sin, 
not  because  I  wish  to  do  so,  but  because  I  am  compelled.  I  feel 
that  I  am  sinning,  but  my  frailty,  which  I  cannot  withstand, 
urges  me  on." 

These  testimonies  to  the  actual  existence  of  that  internal 
strife,  as  a  fact  of  man's  nature,  are  sufficient ;  but,  indeed,  they 
might  be  multiplied  a  hundredfold ;  for  that  this  exists  in  man  by 
nature,  as  fallen  and  apart  from  grace,  is  the  universal  expe- 
rience of  all,  both  of  Heathen,  who,  by  their  position,  knew  not 
the  cause  of  it,  and  of  Christians,  who,  by  revelation,  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  fact  of  the  Fall. 

But  perhaps  the  most  vivid  description  that  is  given  of  man  in 
respect  to  this  internal  strife  of  Will,  is  given  by  St.  Paul,  in  his 
description  of  the  natural  man  : 

"For  we  know  that  the  law  is  Spiritual:  but  I  am  carnal, 
sold  under  sin.  For  that  which  I  do,  I  allow  not :  for  what  I 
would,  that  I  do  not ;  but  what  I  hate,  that  do  I.  If  then  I  do 
that  which  I  would  not,  I  consent  unto  the  law  that  it  is  good. 
Now  then  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me. 
For  I  know  that  in  me,  (that  is,  in  my  flesh,)  dwelleth  no  good 
thing :  for  to  will  is  present  with  me ;  but  how  to  perform  that 
which  is  good  I  find  not.  For  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do 
not :  but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do.  Now  if  I  do 
that  I  would  not,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth 
in  me.  I  find  then  a  law,  that,  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is 
present  with  me.  For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  in- 
ward man :  but  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against 
the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law 
of  sin  which  is  in  my  members."* 

Here  is  the  experience  of  all  men's  nature,  of  this  inward  strife, 
most  vividly  portrayed ;  a  strife  that  has  no  end  until,  of  set 
purpose  and  constantly,  the  man  has  sought  after  the  law  of  Crod's 
Crrace,  and  found  it,  and  given  himself  up  to  be  ruled  by  it, 
through  the  set  purpose  of  his  will — or  until  he,  with  his  eyes 
open,  voluntarily,  and  of  set  purpose,  has  given  himself  up  to  be 

*  Bomans  vii.  14-23. 
45 


"1^  *     CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

ruled  by  this  other  law,  the  will  that  is  ofthefie%hy  and  its  laWf 
the  law  of  sin  and  death.*^  t? 

We  can  see  then  the  deficiency  of  the  Will,  that,  being  in  us  an 
internal  and  spiritual  faculty,  the  faculty  of  freedom,  it  partici- 
pates, through  Original  Sin,  of  the  deficiency  and  inability  of  the 
rest  of  our  nature ;  and  of  itself  it  is  unable,  weak,  deficient, 
both  in  its  power  and  in  its  results. 

Hence,  when  it  is  utterly  apart  from  all  Divine  influences — a 
situation  in  which  we  cannot  believe  the  ever-blessed  God  has 
left  any  of  our  race — the  man  would  be  the  most  miserable  of  all 
beings, — knowing,  willing,  desiring,  feeling  the  duty  of  resistance 
to  temptation,  and  yet  being  the  absolute  and  utter  slave  of  cir- 
cumstance and  appetite.  This  would  man  be  of  his  nature,  apart 
from  all  Divine  influences,  in  consequence  of  the  infirmity  of  his 
Will,  its  inability  to  resist  external  impressions,  and  the  influence 
of  external  motives  on  it. 

But,  as  we  have  shown  that  Society  is  a  school  for  the  other 
spiritual  parts  of  man,  so  is  it  a  very  strong  discipline  for  this. 
And,  indeed,  if  a  man  will  look  at  the  course  of  events  through 
which  he  has  passed  in  this  life, — that  is  to  say,  the  efiects  of 
•God's  providence  upon  him, — each  one,  in  his  own  course,  shall 
hardly  miss  to  say,  that  the  schooling  of  the  Almighty,  which  is 
BO  strong  an  exercise  and  trial  to  the  rest  of  our  Moral  Nature, 
in  no  small  degree  tends  to  develope  the  powers  of  the  Will,  in 
all  men  that  are  teachable  by  circumstance  and  the  course  of 
events.  So  far  are  none  apart  from  influences  that  come  from 
God,  and  directly  tend  to  strengthen  the  Will  and  give  it  control 
over  the  mere  power  of  Desire  and  Appetite. 

Taking  into  account,  then,  and  allowing  it  as  a  fact,  that  there 
is  this  external  education  of  the  Will  in  various  degrees  conferred 
upon  men  by  God, — setting,  I  say,  this  case  aside,  as  mainly 
beyond  our  examination  and  our  powers  of  explanation,  let  us 
■come  to  the  consideration  of  the  Freedom  de  facto  of  the  Will,  or 
t)f  that  which  enables  it  to  control  the  Will  of  the  Flesh. 

And  here  I  think  that  we  shall  find  that  the  motives  which 
free  the  Will  are,  of  its  own  nature,  inward  and  Spiritual,  not 
Animal ;  and  that  that  man  whose  Will  is  so  guided,  he  shall 

*  I  would  refer  my  reader  to  the  fourth  book,  for  the  description  of  Con- 
cupiscence, or  Evil  Desire,  which  is  the  origin  of  that  strife  here  described, 
that  comes  up  to  man's  self-knowledge  in  his  Will. 


THE  HUMAN   WILL.  856 

have  the  power  of  resistance  to  enslaving  circumstance,  in  a  de- 
gree greater  or  less,  just  in  proportion  as  his  Will  is  so  actuated. 

The  Will  is  like  the  other  Spiritual  faculties :  it  is  not  a  law 
to  itself ;  it  seeks  not  its  perfection  in  itself,  hut  by  an  influence 
from  without  is  it  perfected. 

And  if  a  man,  the  most  having  the  control  over  himself, — if 
he  looks  at  it  clearly,  he  shall  find  that  to  be  steadily  under  the 
Law  of  Conscience,  this  gives  freedom, — this  sets  a  man  apart 
from  the  enslaving  influence  of  external  things.  It  tells  the 
man — "  Thou  art  no  slave  to  gold ;  for,  under  the  law  of  Con- 
science, the  Will  so  actuated  can  resist  all  amount  of  treasure 
rather  than  do  evil,  rather  than  break  through  the  checks  of  the 
conscience,  rather  than  incur  the  Stain  and  the  Guilt  written 
down  by  it,  or  bear  its  Fear  and  Shame."  Conscience,  in  its 
action  upon  the  Will,  sets  a  man  free  from  a  multitude  of  evils, 
from  the  strength  of  a  multitude  of  appetites  and  lusts. 

It  avails  not  that  men,  with  vain  babble  and  idle  logic,  say, 
"Then  you  are  not  free,  for  you  are  governed."  Certainly,  go- 
verned ;  but,  as  certainly,  by  an  inward  power,  which  is  my  own 
highest  and  loftiest  faculty.  And,  as  certainly,  by  this  freed 
from  the  heavy  dominion  of  external  circumstance  and  the  hard 
and  unhealthy  rule  of  the  lower  parts  of  nature. 

Certainly  free, — for  when,  under  the  sway  of  Conscience,  the 
Will  is  determined  by  it,  then  is  it  determined  by  the  highest  and 
most  perfect  faculty  of  my  nature.  And,  according  to  a  similar 
harmony,  the  rule,  that  is,  of  His  Infinite  Perfections,  is  God's 
Will  determined.  And  therefore,  as  He,  being  Infinite,  is  free, 
so  am  I,  in  like  proportion,  free,  according  to  my  finite  nature. 
So  that  in  vain  shall  men,  with  verbal  quibbling,  argue,  "  that 
since  the  Will  is  determined  by  the  Conscience,  then  it  is  not 
free ;" — seeing  that  men  whose  will  is  determined  by  appetite, 
know  and/ee?  that  then  the  Will  is  certainly  not  free.  And  most 
certainly  do  we  and  all  men  know  by  experience,  and  feel,  that 
determined  and  ruled  hy  the  conscience,  it  is  then  free,  and  en- 
ables the  man  to  resist  all  enslaving  circumstances. 

In  like  manner,  if  we  look  at  the  Spiritual  Reason,  and  see  the 
man  under  its  guidance,  each  fact  and  attribute  of  the  nature  of 
the  Most  Holy  God  that  by  it  he  receives  and  applies,. in  the 
shape  of  Moral  Principle  and  Moral  Habit, — each  one  of  these 
frees  the  Will, — each  one  of  these  sets  and  places  man  apart  from 


356  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

the  possibility  of  a  heavy  burthen  and  grievous  yolce,  which  many 
have  borne  and  groaned  beneath.  He  in  whose  life  the  feeling 
and  sentiment  of  Justice  reigns  as  a  Principle,  or  of  Benevolence, 
or  of  Purity,  or  of  Holiness,  that  man,  by  the  Spiritual  Principle 
so  upheld,  is  freed  from  a  multitude  of  heavy  burthens  and  griev- 
ous sorrows  that  are  laid  upon  the  unjust,  the  cruel,  the  impure, 
the  unholy,  besides  that  greatest  burthen  of  all,  the  internal  strife, 
the  inward  agony  of  self-reproach,  the  despair  of  a  nature  feeling 
the  sinfulness  of  sin,  and  repugnant  to  it,  and  wrestling  against 
it,  and  yet,  by  the  chain  of  appetite  and  outward  temptation,  tied 
down  and  bound  beneath  the  burthen  /* 

Tell  me  not  "  that  for  the  Will  to  be  determined  by  Moral 
Principle  is  a  proof  that  it  is  not  free !  just  as  touch  as  when  it 
is  determined  by  appetite !"  when  I  see  that  one  is  Spiritual, 
according  to  the  height  and  perfect  harmony  of  the  whole  nature, 
and  the  other.  Animal,  and  against  its  perfection, — when  I  see 
that  the  one  is  a  state  such  as  is  that  of  God,  Willing  according 
to  the  perfection  of  his  attributes,  and  the  other  makes  a  man 
a  beast,  and  ruled,  as  the  beasts  are,  by  Circumstance  and  Ap- 
petite ! 

And,  lastly,  that  the  "Will"  should  be  determined  by  the  Af- 


*  Perhaps  the  great  Stoic  poet,  Persius,  expresses  more  distinctly  than 
any  Seathen  the  despair  and  agony  of  being  conquered  in  that  Life-struggle, 
the  strife  which  each  man  has  to  undergo,  between  the  "Will  of  the  Flesh" 
and  the  Spiritual  Will,  when  he  makes  it  for  the  highest  criminals  the 
greatest  punishment : 

Magne  Pater  Dirom,  saevos  punire  tyrannos 
Haud  alia  ratione  velis,  cum  dira  libido 
Moverit  ingenium,  ferventi  tincta  veneno ; 
Virtutem  videani  intabescanique  relicia. 
Anne  magis  Siculi  gemuerunt  sera  juvenci, 
Aut  magis  auratis  pendens  laquearibus  ensia 
Purpureas  subter  cervices  terruit,  imus    ' 
Imus  prcecipites,  quam  si  sibi  dicat? 

His  prayer  for  them  is,  "  When  the  poison  of  evil  desires  fires  the  soul, — 
then  let  them  in  despair  look  back  with  longing  to  the  virtue  they  have  de- 
serted— then  let  them,  in  their  certainty  of  utter  and  unavoidable  ruin,  cry, 
'  We  fall,  we  fall,  and  there  is  no  help  for  us.' "  This,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Stoic,  is  the  most  agonizing  torture  of  life.  And  truly,  I  must  think  that  he 
is  right.  I  have  been  told  so,  in  so  many  words,  by  those  in  whom  the  wiU 
was  habitually  enslaved  by  appetite. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  357 

fections,  this  frees  from  Slavery,  that  instead  of  being  deter- 
mined by  Selfishness,  it  be  by  Unselfish  Motives, — instead  of 
being  ruled  by  Froward  desires,  it  be  obedient  unto  law, — instead 
of  being  Sensual,  it  be  Pure.  Manifestly,  when  we  look  upon 
the  evils  brought  upon  man  by  Concupiscence,  or  Evil  Desire, 
(^'EftiOvftCa  it  is  called  by  the  apostle,)  embracing  these  three, 
"Sensuality,  Selfishness,  and  Self-will,"  and  see  how  opposite 
the  Affections  are  to  these,  it  is  the  highest  degree  of  freedom 
that  the  Will  should  be  by  the  Afiections  determined,  instead  of 
by  Concupiscence. 

This,  then,  is  that  which  enables  the  faculty  of  Freedom  to  be 
in  action  and  efiect  most  free,  that  its  action  be  determined  by 
internal  Motive, — that  motive,  namely,  that  is  Spiritual,  arises 
from  the  Spiritual  part  of  man's  being. 

Let  a  man  draw  the  line  between  the  good  of  the  animal  being, 
body  as  well  as  mind, — let  him  suppose  the  highest  object  and 
aim  of  a  man  to  be  without  and  below  the  line  of  Spiritual  Good, — 
then,  how  lofty  soever  it  may  seem  in  the  eyes  of  the  World,  it 
confers  no  Freedom.  But  let  the  motive  be  Spiritual,  from  the 
Spiritual  nature, — then  at  once  Freedom  is  manifested,  and  we 
see  it  and  feel  it  to  be  so.  The  power  of  resistance  is  given  by 
this,  of  emancipation  from  appetitp  and  external  circumstance. 
Whatsoever  men  may  talk  in  their  logical  and  verbal  way,  the 
man  of  Conscience,  of  Moral  Principle,  of  pure  Heart,  knows 
and  feels  in  this  his  freedom  to  exist ;  and  freedom  just  so  far 
as  he  has  perfection  in  and  of  his  Spiritual  Nature.  He,  and  he 
alone,  has  that  inward  power  that  enables  the  man  to  resist  the 
external  action  of  that  law  of  Cause  and  Efi"ect  under  which  the 
animals  are  bound,  and  to  be,  according  to  his  limited  nature,  as 
God  is — free  !  And  it  is  manifest  that  this  shall  take  place  only 
when  the  measure  according  to  which  these  inner  faculties  deter- 
mine the  Will,  shall  be  the  Will  and  Law  of  God.  "  Not  my 
will,  but  thine  be  done,"  was  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ  unto  the  Father.  And,  secondly,  the  means  of 
bringing  this  result  about,  the  agency  that  shall  subdue  our  Will 
unto  the  will  of  the  Father,  this  is  only  Grace, — Grace  given 
through  all  the  means  of  Grace,  and  Grace  given  without  means, 
according  to  the  Will  of  God.  But  if  we  despise  the  first,  we 
may  be  certain  that  in  the  last  we  shall  have  no  share. 


358  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Second  Power  of  the  "Will  that  of  Purpose ;  illustrated  by  a  comparison 
of  cases: — 1.  Sets  its  object  in  the  Future. — 2.  Prescribes  a  law  to  the 
Will. — A  rebuke  of  the  Heathen  Morality  that  tells  us  not  to  look  to  the 
Future :  we  must,  hy  our  being,  look  towards  it. — This  fact  interpreted. — 
True  Christian  Hope,  1st,  looking  steadily  to  Christ,  and,  2dly,  imposing 
voluntarily  the  Law  of  God  upon  the  action,  is  that  only  which  perfects 
Purpose  of  WilL  ' 

In  the  last  chapter  we  have  examined  the  first  part  of  the 
power  of  the  Will — the  liberty,  that  is,  of  choice ;  and  we  have 
shown  its  relation  to  human  life  and  action.  In  this  chapter,  we 
enter  upon  the  consideration  of  the  second  power  of  the  Will, 
the  power  of  Purpose,  as  we  have  defined  it,  "  the  power  of  fixing 
and  determining  choice." 

This  we  consider  a  separate  and  distinct  power  altogether  from 
that  of  liberty  of  choice ;  the  one  consisting  in  the  ability  of  re- 
sistance to  motive,  however  strong,  and,  consequently,  of  the  admit- 
ting voluntarily  of  it,  however  weak — and  the  other,  the  motive 
being  received,  of  a  determination  of  the  will,  or  a  fixation  of 
purpose,  subsequent  in  time  to  the  admittance  of  the  motive,  and 
distinct  from  it.  In  fact,  the  word,  "  I  will,"  embraces,  when  you 
examine  it  closely,  the  two  ideas — the  first,  of  choice,  in  which 
"I  will"  is  equivalent  to  "I  wish,"  "I  desire,"  or  "I  choose," 
— the  second,  that  of  determination  or  purpose,  "I  am  fixed 
and  set  in  that  choice  which  I  have  made."  "Will  you  go  to 
the  city?"  is  equivalent  to,  "Is  it  your  wish,"  or  "desire,"  or 
"choice,  so  to  do?"  "I  will,"  the  answer,  expresses  determina- 
tion or  purpose. 

This  would,  perhaps,  make  the  idea  plain  enough,  and  suiffi- 
ciently  show  that  the  power  of  Choice  in  the  Will  is  difi^rent 
from  the  power  of  Purpose ;  but  perhaps  we  may  be  able  to  illus- 
trate it  still  more,  and  to  make  it  still  clearer.  When  we  look 
at  men  in  life,  we  see  some  men  whose  Wills  are  at  the  moment 
vehemently  impressible  by  motives  both  internal  and  external, 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  359 

and  their  action  thereupon  correspondingly  energetic,  who,  in  a 
little  time,  are  just  as  vehemently  excited  in  an  opposite  direc- 
tion. The  Will  is  impressed  now  by  one  motive,  then  it  is  again 
impressed  by  another;  and  no  impression  seems  to  have  the 
power  of  lasting,  or  of  enduring  for  any  time.  Others  there  are, 
who,  when  they  come  under  the  influence  of  motive,  seem  to  have 
the  power  of  fixing  that  motive  in  their  Will  as  a  future  guide, 
of  stamping,  as  it  were,  the  immediate  volition"^  in  the  Will,  and 
sealing  it  therein,  as  a  set  decree  and  law  of  future  action.  This 
power  of  determinate  Purpose,  this  capacity  of  ordaining  a  pre- 
sent decree,  upon  present  motives,  that  shall  be  an  inward  law 
and  rule  for  future  action,  is  manifestly  quite  a  different  thing 
from  that  other  of  admitting  or  not  admitting  motive.  We  can 
distinguish  them  in  the  action  of  our  own  minds ;  we  can  see  them 
as  distinctly  in  other  men's  actions;  and  we  mark  them  by  a 
variety  of  words,  implying  the  difference  :  the  words  "freedom," 
"choice,"  "liberty,"  express  the  one  action  of  the  will;  "pur- 
pose," "determination,"  "fixedness,"  "decision,"  the  other. 

Nay,  this  fact  of  Purpose  you  shall  see  manifest  itself  in 
every  department  of  life.  Enter  into  a  school,  and  you  shall  find 
one  class  sent  there  by  their  parents,  and  there  for  that  reason  ; 
rising  in  the  morning  at  the  appointed  hour,  because  of  another 
external  circumstance,  studying  because  there  are  lessons  set, 
and  there  are  tutors  that  teach, — obeying  for  the  reason  that 
obedience  is  the  law  of  the  place, — and  so  making  circumstance 
their  law,  and  never  once  looking  forward  beyond  the  day,  never 
troubling  themselves  for  any  thing  beyond  the  circumstance  im- 
mediate to  them  in  time  and  place.  What  is  their  Purpose  ?  they 
have  no  Purpose ; — they  mean  to  get  through.  What  their  deter- 
mination ? — they  have  no  determination :  they  let  Chance  and 
Circumstance,  Position,  and  the  Will  of  any  that  think  it  worth 
while  to  rule  them,  decide  for  them.  Such  persons  I  have  seen 
in  all  states  and  conditions  of  life,  in  schools,  in  colleges,  in  pro- 
fessions, in  trades,  in  society,  in  whom  the  faculty  and  power  of 
Purpose  and  predetermination  either  had  never  been  trained  to 
action,  or  else  had  perished ;  floating  weeds  upon  the  waves  of 
circumstance ;  ships,  with  sails  and  helm,  but  unprovided  with 
chart  and  compass,  or  hand  to  hold  the  helm, — such  are  men  with- 
out the  power  of  Purpose. 

*  VdUtion  means  an  act  of  the  Will. 


360  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

Others  I  have  seen  quite  different  from  these : — who  looTe 
around  them,  that  they  may  see  their  relation  to  existing  circum- 
stance, and  what  they  can  do  in  modifying  it  for  their  good ; — who 
look  inwardly  upon  themselves,  their  hopes  and  fears,  and  power 
and  desires,  and  see  what  they  wish,  what  is  their  Will,  and  their 
Desire ; — and  who  then  form  steady  purposes,  which,  inwardly 
framed  and  inwardly  settled,  are  laws  of  life  and  of  action,  bind- 
ing, self-imposed  upon  the  Will,  ruling  it  as  the  helmsman's  hand 
and  eye  rules  the  helm  of  a  vessel, — and  who  henceforth  guide 
it,  according  to  that  inner  law  of  Purpose,  across  the  waves,  and 
through  them,  against  the  wind  or  with  it,  but  still  according  to 
the  inward  law  self-imposed,  of  set  Purpose,  and  fixed  determi- 
nation."^ 

So,  while  the  power  of  resistance  to  external  motive  is  in  the 
will  by  nature,  and  in  it  is  freedom,  the  power  of  Purpose  is  that 
by  which  the  will  sets  and  establishes  to  itself  a  Law  of  action ; 
appoints  to  itself  an  end  in  the  future,  after  which  to  struggle, 
lifts  its  eye  up  from  the  present,  its  objects  and  its  delights,  or 
its  miseries  and  sorrows,  and  setting  to  itself  a  distant  point, 
perhaps  in  tracts  of  time  so  distant  that  it  only  may  reach  them, 
perhaps  upon  the  extremest  bounds  of  possibility,  fixes  its  aim 
upon  that  remote  and  distant  point. 

Ask  whether  there  are  such  men,  and  who  they  are  ?  And 
the  same  experience  that  shows  us  the  one  class,  the  men  of  infirm 
and  uncultivated  Purpose,  wandering  through  the  wastes  of  life 
as  animals  that  now  rest  upon  a  sunny  bank,  now  move  a  few 
steps  towards  a  greener  patch  of  herbage,  now  flee  from  the  heat 
to  the  shelter  of  a  grove, — the  same  experience  that  shows  to  us 
these  men  without  purpose,  will  show  us  that  other  class,  that 
have  an  aim  to  which  they  are  pressing,  that  know  what  they 
want  to  obtain,  and  are  struggling  towards  it,  that  have  an  object 
and  an  end  in  view,  and  are  not  mere  animals,  chance  loiterers 
in  the  paths  of  life.f     And  wherever  they  are,  in  whatever  situa- 

*  I  would,  of  course,  have  my  readers  note  here  that  there  may  be  a 
power  of  purpose,  which,  being  determined  and  set  to  evil,  may,  because  of 
this,  be  evil.  Still  the  same  might  have  been  set  to  good  as  strongly.  This 
faculty,  then,  of  fixedness  and  decision,  is,  in  Usdf  good ;  only  by  being  set 
towards  evil  is  it  bad. 

t  The  lofty  Stoic  poet,  whom  I  before  quoted,  illustrates  this  well.  The 
Stoics  placed  all  virtue  in  a  self-governing  Will  exerting  itself  by  a  fixed  and 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  361 

tion  of  life  they  may  be,  of  whatever  sex  or  age,  they  have 
respect  from  others,  and  they  respect  themselves.  The  man  with- 
out a  Purpose  is  a  mere  animal,  the  man  with  a  Purpose  is  so  far 
a  man. 

Let  us  look  at  this  faculty  of  Purpose,  and  upon  analysis  we 
shall  find  in  it  indications  of  many  things  Spiritual.  Every  one 
sees  that  to  have  Purpose,  this  is  man-like ;  to  be  purposeless, 
this  is  to  be  like  the  animals :  and,  therefore,  that  to  have  an  aim 
to  the  future,  according  to  an  inward  law  of  the  Will  superior  to 
external  motive,  this  is  most  in  accordance  with  man's  true  being. 
Three  things  are  there  in  this :  1st,  an  object ;  2d,  in  the  future ; 
3d,  a  law  of  the  Will  self-imposed,  which  has  the  power  of  reject- 
ing other  motives.  Look  at  all  men  of  Purpose,  and  these  three 
things  are  clearly  and  distinctly  seen  in  them.  Men  place  the 
object  in  the  future.  There  is  no  man  would  say,  I  would  be  con- 
tent with  the  Present  and  all  its  circumstances,  and  see  it  esta- 
blished as  one  eternal  NOW.  All  men  desire  the  Present  to  pass 
away,  and  the  Future  to  arrive.  And,  although  they  may,  as  tra- 
vellers do,  set  limits  to  themselves,  and  establish  in  their  imagina- 
tion a  period  and  a  station  further  on,  wherein  they  shall  desire  no 
Future,  and  pursue  no  object  after  they  have  arrived  at  them ; — 
still,  when  they  reach  the  destined  point  on  their  journey,  greener 
vales  and  shadier  hills  expand  to  their  view,  another  object  further 
on  is  marked  out  for  their  final  resting-place,  the  terminal  station, 
which  reached,  they  shall  no  further  purpose,  but  dwell  and  abide 
there  satisfied  and  no  more  desiring ; — is  not  this  the  nature  of 
Man,  and  this  his  doom  ? 

Philosophers  have  talked  of  this  as  a  "fault  of  Human  Nature," 
a  "delusion,"  and  have  said  to  men  that  they  should  repress  it, 
that  they  should  rest  in  the  Present  and  enjoy  it,  and  think  not 
of  the  Future,  and  so  forth.     Li  short,  they  have  talked  an  im- 

stable  Purpose, — and  I  must  say,  not  without  a  considerable  degree  of  truth, 
although  not  all,  for  assuredly  half  the  miseries  of  life  come  from  weak- 
ness and  instability.  In  conformity  with  this,  he  addresses  such  a  character 
as  those  whom  we  have  spoken  of  in  tHe  text  as  "  chance  loiterers  in  the  paths 
of  life," 

"  Est  aliquid  quo  tendis,  et  in  quod  dirigis  arcnm  ? 
An  passim  sequeris  corvos  testdque  lutoque, 
Securus  quo  pes  ferat,  et  ex  tempore  vivis  ? 
46 


862  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

mense  amount  of  that  vain  babble  of  Heathenism,  those  "morals 
of  Seneca,"  that  might  have  done  well  enough  in  a  pagan,  to 
whom  the  Present  is  absolutely  certain,  the  Future  and  any  exist- 
ence in  it,  a  shadowy  possibility,  and  a  vague  uncertainty ;  and 
feeble,  narrow-minded  Moralists  have  vented  a  great  deal  of  this 
heathenish  philosophy,  and  thought  it  Christianity,  and  have 
wondered  how  absurd  and  perverse  men  are,  that  they  cannot  be 
prevailed  on  to  live  in  the  Present,  and  to  set  for  themselves  no 
object  in  the  Future. 

We  give  no  such  advice.  We  say,  "Here  is  a  power  of  mind 
and  a  peculiar  action,  by  which  you,  by  your  nature,  are  compelled 
to  travel  onward  in  aims  and  desires  towards  the  Future ; — this  is 
no  vain  desire  to  be  repressed  by  moralizing  or  self-restraining 
effort,  but  a  power  and  an  instinct  having  its  proof  and  its  perfec- 
tion in  Revelation  and  in  God, — a  living  proof  that  there  is  an  end 
in  view  onward  still  and  onward,  where  there  is  rest  and  content- 
ment :  a  sure  inward  proof  that  man  is  no  animal,  to  dwell  in  the 
Present  and  its  delights,  but  a  traveller  onward  through  a  road 
which  he  wishes  perpetually  to  end, — and  which  will  end.  And 
in  despite  of  Heathen  Morality  upon  the  duty  of  dwelling  in  the 
Present,  in  despite  of  Heathenism  of  belief,  this*  "  feeling  of  the 
Traveller,"  as  the  middle  age  Christians  call  it,  ever  shall  make 
man  know  that  his  dwelling  is  not  here,  but  out  of  Time,  out  of 
Space,  in  Eternity ! 

We  then  tell  not  men  to  dwell  in  the  Present,  to  fix  no  object  in 
the  Future.  We  tell  them  to  look  through  that  flitting  and  change- 
able future  of  things  temporal  that  hitherto  has  been  so  unsatis- 
factory, to  look  through  this  painted  veil,  this  gorgeous  bank  of 
sun-tinted  clouds  that  we  call  Time,  upon  Eternity,  and  there 
they  shall  find  their  true  and  satisfactory  object  of  Purpose.  The 
power  of  purpose  in  us  that  exists  in  Time,  leads  us  of  its  own 
nature  towards  Eternity,  thereunto  it  points,  therein  its  proper 
and  peculiar  end  and  object  is. 

Again,  in  this  power  of  Purpose  in  the  Will,  besides  this  look- 
ing to  the  Future,  we  see  the  fact  of  a  self-imposed  law.  The  Will 
is  not  in  man  simple  in  action,  but  it  acts  according  to  Law ;  in 
the  case  of  Purpose,  to  a  law  self-imposed  and  self-applied.  A 
motive,  for  instance,  engrosses  the  mind  of  a  man ;  this  motive  he 

*  Animus  Viatoris. 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  868 

has  the  power  of  making  to  be  a  law  of  his  Will  that  shall  hence- 
forth work  upon  its  action,  and  make  it  within  him  capable  of 
resisting,  habitually  and  constantly,  even  stronger  powers  than 
the  original  one  has  been.  This  is  essentially  one  of  the  elements 
cf  Purpose,  the  bringing  of  the  will  under  the  rule  of  a  volun- 
tary Law,  for  such  it  may  be  seen  is  the  act  of  Purpose.  The 
man  who  says  "I  will,"  in  reference  to  future  action,  he  evidently 
prescribes  a  law  of  action  for  that  amount  of  time,  to  his  Will. 

Hence  we  see  the  relation  of  the  Will,  the  faculty  of  Action, 
to  the  Reason,  the  faculty  of  Law ;  hence,  too,  we  see  the  perma- 
nent freedom  of  the  Will  reconciled  to  the  fact  of  its  being  under 
fixed  law,  that  so  far  as  it  freely  makes  the  principles  of  Eternal 
Morality  its  Law  of  Purpose,  so  far  it  is  permanently  free :  but 
this  subject  has  been  so  fully  discussed  in  other  parts  of  the  book, 
that  we  need  not  now  more  than  indicate  it. 

But  one  may  say,  do  not  we  see  this  second  law  of  Purpose  to 
exist  in  the  animals,  this  of  a  law  self-imposed,  that  shall  control 
immediate  desires  ? 

And  we  say.  No ; — you  may  see  long  and  continuous  action  upon 
a  present  motive,  giving  an  appearance  of  Purpose,  but  when  you 
examine  it  closely,  it  is  no  Purpose,  no  law  of  action  self-imposed, 
but  the  permanence  of  an  animal  motive,  inducing  permanence 
of  action.  The  lion  lies  for  days  by  the  one  lonely  spring  in  the 
African  desert ;  the  wolves  follow  the  track  of  a  deer  for  days 
together :  here  is  continuance  x/f  action,  from  permanence  of  the 
animal  motive  of  hunger, — that  gone,  the  action  comes  to  an  end : 
there  is  permanent  action  continuing  under  a  motive  as  long  as 
that  motive  exists, — but  no  Purpose.  The  animal  not  hungry 
would  not  hunt, — the  man  without  hunger  chases  after  animals 
with  the  same  perseverance,  from  a  set  purpose  for  the  future, 
under  a  determination  self-imposed,  and  not  necessarily  under  the 
movement  of  an  immediate  appetite. 

And  when  it  is  necessary  that  something  should  be  done  for 
the  Future  by  the  mere  animals,  we  find  it  done  in  them  by  an 
irresistible  instinct,  framed  and  formed  in  entire  accordance  with 
the  circumstances  of  their  natural  habitation :  and  to  confirm  this 
view  of  ours,  that  the  animals  have  not,  in  such  cases,  any  real 
Purpose,  but  an  instinct  that  in  its  stead  prepares  for  the  Future ; 
when  they  are  transferred  to  climates  wherein  circumstances  are 
diflferent,  we  see  them  still  acting  upon  the  instinct,  although  it 


364  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

be  idle  ;*  for  purpose,  properly  so  called,  there  is  none  in  the 
animals.  Indeed,  it  is  very  hard  to  think  that  they  have  any 
proper  idea  of  the  Future ;  purpose  and  thought  for  the  Future 
belong  to  man  as  modes  of  Will, — and  Will  is  his  as  a  part  of  his 
Spiritual  Nature. 

Now,  again  and  again,  in  the  course  of  this  book,  we  have 
insisted  upon  the  truth  that  there  is  a  Spiritual  Education — an 
education  peculiarly  belonging  to  the  Moral  Powers,  and  to  be 
conducted  under  its  own  rules  and  modes  of  training,  and  after 
its  own  methods.  And  this  is  distinct  entirely  from  Mental 
Education,  so  distinct  that  the  highest  degree  of  Mental  Cul- 
tivation may  exist  with  the  lowest  of  moral  development  and  of 
Spiritual  Education :  and,  then,  we  have  laid  it  down  again,  that 
Physical  Education  is  distinct  from  the  other  two,  each  of  the 
three  needing  and  requiring  its  peculiar  knowledge  in  the  teacher 
and  in  the  pupil,  and  its  peculiar  education,  whether  given  by 
another  or  self-imposed. 

As  an  instance,  we  point  out  this  Law  of  Purpose  to  parents 
and  instructors  as  a  power  of  the  Will  peculiarly  to  be  cultivated, 
and  the  cultivation  of  which  is  a  peculiar  benefit.  We  mean,  not 
verbally  but  practically  cultivated, — not  by  a  teacher  who  should 
set  a  verbal  lesson  to  memory,  to  be  learned  by  rote,  but  by  one 
who  had  felt  and  known  himself  the  facts  we  have  noted  and 
their  power. 

Let  such  an  one  take  a  youth,  who  is  growing  up,  and  is  ordi- 
narily intelligent;  let  him  bring  him,  as  Socrates  brought  his 
pupils,  to  think  upon  his  Spiritual  Nature  practically,  to  recog- 
nise its  powers  and  their  relations,  so  that  he  shall  have  a  gene- 
ral view. 

Then  let  him  take  this  of  the  Will  and  its  Purpose,  and,  by 
easy  illustrations,  make  him  feel  the  jpower  of  Purpose,   the 


*  Birds  that  migrate  from  one  climate  to  another,  about  the  particular  time 
show  a  great  and  overpowering  uneasiness,  the  working  of  instinct  preparing 
them  for  their  flight.  Hibernating  animals,  on  being  transferred  to  tempe- 
rate climates,  do  not  sleep  through  the  winter ;  nevertheless,  although  the 
need  of  it  be  gone,  they  often  make  all  preparation  for  their  winter's  repose. 
But  perhaps  the  most  ridiculous  instance  given  in  Natural  History,  is  that 
of  a  beaver,  who,  being  kept  as  a  pet  in  a  gentleman's  house  in  London,  at 
the  set  time  built  himself  a  dam  out  of  the  best  materials  he  could  find, 
across  the  floor  of  a  bed-chamber ! 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  865 

capability  of  governance  of  the  Will  by  a  fixed  Law,  and  the 
duty  of  looking  to  the  future  with  a  fixed  object ;  and  he  shall 
have  done  more  for  that  youth  than  by  giving  him  the  knowledge 
of  twenty  books  of  science  or  art.*  And,  then,  if  having  his 
confidence,  and  thence  knowing  his  deficiencies,  mentally  or 
morally,  he  shall  teach  him  how  to  apply  this  knowledge — ^he 
shall  realize  his  instruction,  and  make  the  youth  feel  it  as  true 
and  precious. 

For,  as  regards  talents  or  mental  power,  when  we  look  at  the 
history  of  men  celebrated  for  this,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  we 
shall  find  that  it  was  some  circumstance  apparently  fortuitous 
that  called  into  vehement  action  and  vehemently  developed  some 
one  of  those  that  we  have  called  the  Governing  Powers, — the 
Conscience,  the  Heart,  the  Spiritual  Keason,  or  the  Will.  And 
that  this,  then,  has  awakened  to  action  and  developed  the  Mental 
Powers ; — especially  manifest  is  this  with  regard  to  the  Will. 
Let  any  teacher,  then,  who  is  in  doubt  about  the  general  prin- 
ciple, let  him  take  the  most  stupid,  seemingly,  of  all  his  scholars, 
get  his  confidence,  instruct  him  practically  with  regard  to  the 
power  of  the  law  of  Purpose, — teach  him  to  apply  it,  and  he 
soon  shall  see,  under  its  influence,  mental  power  developing  and 
acting  that  perhaps  he  had  not  dreamed  to  exist.  This  I  have 
seen  myself,  in  reference  to  many  pupils  who  have  come  under 
my  care,  and  I  believe  others  that  try  it  will  find  it  true,  and 
thence  perhaps  may  be  encouraged  to  test  the  assertion,  and, 
finding  it  true,  to  act  upon  it  systematically. 

*  There  has  been,  in  this  country,  a  great  deal  of  good  done,  and  a  great 
deal  of  harm,  by  "Foster's  Essay  upon  Decision  of  Character."  A  great 
deal  of  good,  because  in  that  essay  he  manifested,  to  many  who  had  not 
before  known  it,  the  power  of  a  fixed  and  determined  Will,  and  showed 
practically,  by  very  interesting  narratives,  what  such  a  "Will  can  effect. 

A  great  deal  of  harm,  because  he  taught  the  bare  power  of  Will  apart 
from  any  law,  and  making  itself  its  own  law ;  and,  therefore,  by  the  third 
general  principle  of  the  governing  powers,  being  in  that  evil.  For  the  WiU 
that  is  ruled  by  itself,  when  it  should  be  governed  by  Conscience,  the  Reason, 
the  Affections,  is  a  curse.  And  to  be  taught  merely  the  power  of  Will, 
apart  from  its  connection  with  these,  is  no  advantage,  but  harm. 

However,  making  this  exception,  I  would  advise  aU  students  of  Ethical 
Science,  to  read  and  think  upon  that  essay.  They  will  find  it  a  most 
important  contribution  to  the  Science  of  Morality.  But,  without  this 
exception,  I  recommend  the  book  to  no  one ;  and,  to  a  certain  character 
of  mind,  I  conceive  it  is  capable  of  doing  great  and  permanent  injrjry. 


866  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

I  have  shown  how  the  law  of  Purpose  fixes  for  a  man  an  ob- 
ject in  the  Future,  and  how  its  leading  and  tendency  is  only 
satisfied  by  an  object  in  Eternity.  I  have  shown,  also,  how 
naturally  and  easily,  through  the  same  power,  the  man  imposes 
upon  his  Will  a  law  and  rule  of  action,  internal  and  spiritual, 
which  is  a  Law.  And  yet,  in  it  is  freedom, — in  that  very  Law, 
— and  in  being  ruled  by  it. 

Now,  the  Christian  who  steadily  looks  at  this  power  and  in- 
stinct of  the  inner  man,  he  in  it  shall  see  how  the  faculties  of 
nature  answer  to  the  gospel  privileges.  The  Unseen  World,  with 
its  joys  and  its  crown  of  Life  Eternal,  held  out  for  us  to  look 
towards  with  the  eyes  of  Faith  ; — this  is  that  object  upon 
which  the  Purpose  that  is  truly  perfect  must  be  fixed.  And,  so 
directed,  so  guided,  the  action  of  the  natural  faculty  is  changed 
into  the  Christian  grace  of  Hope,  fixing  its  sight  upon  the  throne 
and  mount  of  God,  and  upon  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Christ,  there 
sitting  and  making  intercession  for  us. 

Perfected  then  is  Purpose  of  Will,  when,  illumined  by  the 
light  of  heaven,  it  pierces  through  all  the  temporal  things  of 
this  visible  world,  glories  alike  and  clouds,  and  sees  through 
them  all  the  efiulgence  of  Eternity.  Then  is  the  path  of  the 
vessel  directed  across  the  waters,  then  it  is  guided  aright  by  the 
chart,  steadied  by  the  helmsman's  hand,  when  Purpose  is  trans- 
muted into  Christian  Hope,  by  means  of  faith,  which,  as  the 
Apostle  tells  us,  is  "  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for." 

And  then  the  Law  of  faith, — the  royal  law  of  liberty, — the 
inward  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  reigning  and  ruling  in  the 
heart, — this  becomes  the  law  of  action  that  the  Will  imposes  upon 
itself.  And,  so  governing  itself  by  an  inward  Law,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  inward  faith,  the  Will  is  entirely  under  subjection 
to  the  Law  of  Christ,  and,  by  this,  rules  and  guides  itself.  By 
this,  the  natural  faculty  of  Purpose,  through  the  inward  law  of  a 
living  faith,  becomes  the  "assurance  of  (Christian)  Hope," — 
the  "  anchor  of  the  soul,  sure  and  steadfast,  and  which  entereth 
into  that  within  the  veil."* 

This  is  that  alone  which  can  render  our  Purpose  perfect,  both 
m  the  object  upon  which  it  is  fixed  and  in  the  Law  self-imposed. 
This  only  can  make  the  Will  perfect  in  this  part  of  its  faculties. 

♦Heb.  vi.  19. 


THE   HUMAN  WILL.  367 

And  this  -will  do  it.  This  is  that  sure  hope  which  "looks  to 
Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,"  and  thus  finds  in 
Him  alone  its  object  in  Eternity,  and  its  rule  and  inward  law  for 
the  Will.  So  the  inward  faculty  of  Purpose  of  Will,  this  is  con- 
verted into  a  living  Hope,  looking  immovably  unto  Christ  the 
Saviour,  and  as  immovably  ruling  the  man  by  the  "  law  of  the 
liberty  of  the  Gospel." 

Purpose  of  Will  becomes  not  Christian  Hope  of  itself,  by  any 
effort  or  struggle  of  its  own ;  but  it  is  so  crowned  and  perfected 
by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Earthly  faculties  are 
changed  into  heavenly  powers  and  gifts,  not  of  themselves,  but 
only  by  the  "engrafted  Word"  and  the  "grace  of  the  Spirit." 

To  him,  therefore,  who  is  regenerated,  to  him  we  would  say, 
to  cease  not  to  improve  the  grace  of  faith  already  possessed,  by 
ruling  the  Will  inwardly,  according  to  the  "  Law  of  Love," — 
the  "perfect  law  of  liberty," — the  "royal  law"  of  our  King, 
making  this,  with  the  most  inward  earnestness  of  the  Heart,  the 
rule  of  all  purposes,  and  by  all  means  of  meditation  and  prayer 
and  inward  thought,  fixing  the  eye  of  faith  steadily  upon  Christ 
our  Lord. 

Thus  shall  the  faculty  and  power  of  Purpose  of  Will  be  com- 
pleted and  perfected,  and  this  world,  which  to  the  unstable  is  a 
delusive  and  unsteady  wilderness  of  changing  objects,  bewilder- 
ing and  confusing, — this  shall  be  seen  with  the  "Mind  of  the 
traveller."  And,  neither  desirous  to  hasten  our  course  nor  yet 
to  loiter  by  the  wayside,  we  shall  travel  onward  with  clear  views 
and  distinct  hopes  until  we  reach  our  home ;  for  there  is  nothing 
that  so  directs  our  course  and  so  clears  our  views  as  "true  Chris- 
tian Hope :" — this  alone  is  that  which  perfects  the  faculty  of  Pur- 
pose, and  enables  it  to  be  complete,  both  in  its  action  and  in  its 
objects. 


368  '  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  question  of  Power. — Man's  Will  originates  Power,  and  is  not  merely 
an  agent  of  it. — The  evils  of  Fatalism,  exemplified  in  a  quotation  from 
Diderot. — Man's  Will  is  free  in  act  and  fact,  when  it  coincides  completely 
with  the  Will  of  God,  in  Choice,  in  Purpose,  in  Power. 

We  come  now  to  the  third  prerogative  of  the  Will,  that  of 
Power ;  a  very  difficult  question,  we  admit,  but  still,  one  that 
may  be  made,  we  believe,  sufficiently  plain,  if  first  we  clear  away 
the  thorns  and  brambles  of  pertinacious  and  self-centred  contro- 
versy ;  the  arguments  of  men  who  uphold  various  modifications 
of  the  fatalistic  system,  under  the  idea  that  such  a  scheme  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  religion,  and  the  counter  arguments  of 
others,  who  cared  nothing  for  truth,  hut  only  wished  to  he  free 
from  restraint.  Such,  we  think,  are,  on  either  side,  the  argu- 
ments that  have  perplexed,  not  decided,  this  question. 

Strange  arguments !  of  which  the  one  side  proves,  that  man 
has  no  power,  can  do  absolutely  nothing !  and  the  other,  that  he 
can  do  any  thing  he  pleases  !  is  absolutely  omnipotent ! — and  both 
unite  in  relying  upon  abstract  and  verbal  argument,  and  agree  in 
considering  human  nature  and  man's  experience  as  generally  de- 
lusive !  We  put  these  argumentations  aside,  and  go  straight  to 
the  question,  "Is  there  Power  in  the  Will  of  Man?" 

Now,  we  have  shown  the  vainness  of  the  argument,  with  refer- 
ence to  "  Cause  and  Effect,"  upon  Choice  and  Liberty;  manifest- 
ing, in  reference  to  that  power  of  the  Will,  that  while  the  Physical 
World  of  the  mere  animals  is  bound  up  in  a  Causal  system, 
which, /rom  without,  predetermines  their  choice, — man,  because 
he  is  a  spiritual  being,  is  free.  And  that  this  freedom  consists 
in  this,  that,  as  a  spiritual  being,  man  has  the  power  of  resisting 
or  admitting  the  motives  which,  so  far  as  he  is  merely  an  animal, 
would  absolutely  determine  his  Will.  Again,  the  Power  of  Pur- 
pose, which  we  have  treated  of  in  the  last  chapter,  may  be  seen 
to  belong  to  man  peculiarly  as  a  spiritual  being,  inasmuch  as  no 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  369 

animal  has  Purpose.  This,  too,  will  set  man  apart  from  "  tho 
great  external  system  of  Physical  Causation. 

In  the  same  manner,  by  self-experience,  we  know,  that  we, 
under  certain  conditions,  exert  Power,  which  originates  from 
ourselves,  and  is  not  under  a  physical  law  of  causation  in  its 
origin,  or  an  absolute  law  of  doom  in  its  operation ;  both  of  which 
theories  leave  to  man  only  an  appearance  of  doing,  and  a  self- 
delusion  by  which  he  vainly  imagines  he  does  that  which  he  only 
seems  to  do.  And  both  theories  employ  as  their  argument  the 
Law  of  Causation,  the  assertion  that  the  system  of  the  world  is 
driven  by  it,  and  that  man  is  a  mere  part  of  that  system  or 
machine.  A  mechanical  system  of  the  universe,  in  other  words, 
that  asserts,  that  in  His  world,  God  doe8  nothing,  and  is  absent 
himself,  and  that  the  only  thing  present  is  Power  exerted  ac- 
cording to  fixed  law. 

These  three  theories,  viz. :  first,  of  a  Mechanical  System  of  the 
universe;  secondly,  of  an  Absent  God;  and,  thirdly,  of  Mere 
Power ;  these  are  the  premises  that  deny  the  Freedom  of  the 
Will,  whatever  talk  men  may  make  about  other  matters  and  other 
motives.  Get  men  to  believe  in  a  Present  God,  a  Father,  a 
Governor,  a  holy  God,  to  be  worshipped  and  loved,  "upholding 
all  things  by  the  Word  of  his  power,"  "  in  whom  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being,"  and  the  fatalistic  arguments  soon  vanish. 
And  then  there  is  no  difficulty  in  admitting  of  Free-will  or  free 
Power  in  man. 

But  take  these  three  vile  and  abominable  notions,  and  the 
man  who  takes  them  as  true,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  must  be 
a  physical  and  mechanical  atheist,  (so  far  as  atheism  is  possible 
to  man,)  or  else  an  absolute  Fatalist.* 

*  "We  speak  advisedly,  for  such  they  are,  being  contradictory  to  the  expieos 

declaration  of  the  Scriptures,  to  the  truths  of  God's  nature  and  being,  and 

to  man's  experience  of  his  own  inward  constitution,  and  of  the  outward 

face  of  the  world,  and  the  course  of  events.    We  say,  then,  that  they  are 

vile  and  abominable,  and  their  vileness  consists  in  this,  that  the  man  who 

holds  them  has  no  escape  from  a  Pantheistic  Atheism,  save  in  a  system  of 

Fatalistic  Doom.    For,  if  God  be  absent,  I  have  no  proof  in  the  outward 

world,  and  in  my  experience  of  a  God.    1{  Imeet  only  power,  I  cannot  argue 

for  a  father  most  gracious,  or  for  a  moral  governor,  but  only  for  one  maker, 

working  on  one  plan,  or  twenty  makers  working  on  the  same  plan.    And  not 

for  an  Almighty  maker,  but  only  for  one  sufficient  in  power  to  the  work  of 

this  material  world.    If  U  be  only  a  mechanical  system,  this,  with  the  other 

47 


370  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

And  but  small  choice  there  is  between  any  kinds  of  fatalism, 
if  only  they  be  consistent  to  their  own  principles.  Although  we 
must  always  remark,  that  Human  Nature  in  practice,  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  renders  men  inconsistent  in  evil  principle ;  yet  the 
evil  may  be  seen  by  the  ensuing  passage :  it  is  a  citation  from 
Denys  Diderot,  a  physical  and  organical  atheist;  we  take  it 
from  "Upham  on  the  Will:*"— 

"Examine  it  as  you  will,"  says  M.  Diderot,  "and  you  will 
see  that  the  word  liberty  is  a  word  devoid  of  meaning.  That 
there  are  not,  and  there  cannot  be,  free  beings ;  that  we  are  only 
what  accords  with  the  general  order,  with  our  organization,  our 
education,  and  the  chain  of  events.  These  dispose  of  us  invin- 
cibly. We  can  no  more  conceive  of  a  being  acting  without  a 
motive,  than  we  can  of  one  of  the  arms  of  a  balance  acting 
without  a  weight.  The  motive  is  always  exterior  and  foreign, 
fastened  upon  us  by  some  cause  distinct  from  ourselves.  What 
deceives  us  is  the  prodigious  variety  of  our  actions,  joined  to  the 
habit,  which  we  catch  at  our  birth,  of  confounding  the  voluntary 
and  the  free.  We  have  been  so  often  praised  and  blamed,  and  have 
so  often  praised  and  blamed  others,  that  we  contract  an  invete- 
rate prejudice  of  believing  that  we  and  they  will  and  act  freely. 
But,  if  there  is  no  liberty,  there  is  no  action  that  merits  either* 
praise  or  blame,  neither  vice  nor  virtue,  nothing  that  ought  to  be 
either  rewarded  or  punished,"  &c. 

Here  is  physical  Fatalism  boldly  and  without  subterfuge  pro- 
fessed ;  founded  and  distinctly  placed  upon  that  "  Cause  and 
Effect"  doctrine  from  which  we  have  shown  man's  Spiritual  Na- 
ture is  free ;  urged  upon  that  logical  quibble  of  motive,  external 
and  irresistible,  that  we  have  exposed ;  and  boldly  then  driven  out 
to  its  natural  consequences,  fAai  there  is  neither  ^^  vice  nor  virtue,'* 
nothing  that  "  ought  to  he  rewarded  or  punished,  praised  or 
blamed." 

And  that  these  are  the  natural  consequences  of  a  physical 
fatalistic  philosophy,  every  one  can  see  who  shall  take  the  pre- 
mises of  Diderot,  and  go  onward  to  his  conclusions.     The  pre- 

two,  cuts  off  personality, — ^makes  all  power  and  action  meclianical, — ^makes 
all  individuality  vanish, — all  persons  become  parts  of  the  great  All, — and 
all  things  to  be  parts  of  the  one  machine.    So  that,  to  escape  Atheistic 
Pantheism,  the  reader  must  believe  in  a  God  of  rigorous  Destiny. 
*  Page  271. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  871 

mises  once  established,  the  conclusions  follow  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Only  teach  man  that  "  motive  externally  and  irresistibly  deter- 
mines the  action  and  Will  of  man,"  and  the  morality  of  M.  Dide- 
rot follows  as  a  matter  of  course, — his  theoretic  morality  we  will 
say,  and  his  practical  morality,  both  which  were  on  a  par ; — 
M.  Diderot  at  least  was  consistent. 

What  then  was  his  doctrine  ?  This  that  we  have  rejected,  that 
*' motive  acts  upon  man  necessarily  and  invincibly;"  so  that  his 
Will  is  in  every  thing  externally  determined,  and  consequently 
that  all  power  in  him  existing,  and  by  him  exerted,  is  not  in  him 
really,  or  ly  him  actually  exerted,  but  only  apparently,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  "causal  machinery  of  sufficient  motive." 

The  axe  splits  wood,  and  were  it  intelligent,  would  say,  "I 
split ;"  but  yet  it  is  only  the  agent  of  power,  not  itself  originating, 
not  itself  exerting  power :  such  is  the  man  of  the  fatalist,  a  mere 
tool  through  whom  power  flows,  and  by  means  of  whom  it  is  ex- 
erted, but  nothing  more.  And  therefore,  naturally  the  man  that 
holds  this  doctrine  comes  to  the  doctrinal  and  practical  morality 
of  the  celebrated  Encyclopaedist,  M.  Denys  Diderot. 

Now,  in  opposition  to  this,  we  shall  say  that  man  has  these  two 
qualities :  first,  that  he  originates  power,  and  secondly,  that  he 
voluntarily  exerts  it  and  applies  it.  I  say  not,  that  all  the  power 
that  he  exerts  and  applies  is  originated  in  himself,  for  this  would 
not  be  true ;  but  some  power  unquestionably  he  does  originate,  and 
other  power  he  applies,  and  both  independently  of  the  law  of 
Causation. 

Let  one  look  at  it,  and  seeing  man  "  is  made  in  the  image  of  God," 
he  shall  find  it  no  more  difficult  to  believe  that  God  has  made  man 
capable,  voluntarily  and  freely,  of  originating  power  by  his  being 
and  nature,  than  that  he  should  have  made  plants  capable  of  pro- 
ducing particular  fruit.  And  everywhere  this  is  the  natural  feeling 
and  the  natural  persuasion  of  the  race :  they  feel  that  it  is  a  faculty 
belonging  to  their  being,  they  feel  it  to  be  theirs,  in  their  consti- 
tution, truly  and  really  belonging  to  them.  And  why  men  should 
allow  "  this  is  your  faculty  of  sight,  this  is  your  faculty  of  muscular 
action,  this  your  faculty  of  thought,"  and  then  turn  round  and 
assert  that  the  sum  total  of  these,  which  they  had  allowed  in 
separate  items  to  be  man's,  was  not  his !  is  very  hard  to  say, 
except  that  the  mind  is  preoccupied  with  these  three  prejudices 
above  mentioned,  framed  into  a  system.     Why  as  to  other  parts 


872  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

of  our  nature,  men  should  acknowledge  that  this,  because  you  feel 
it  to  be  so,  is  a  faculty  of  nature  having  such  and  such  products, 
— ^you  call  them  yours,  and  such  they  are,  for  you  have  had  a 
life-long  knowledge  and  consciousness  of  their  possession,  and 
your  neighbours  see  and  know  the  same ;  "  but  with  regard  to 
this  one  only,  you  are  mistaken, — your  Will  that  you  count  free  is 
not  free ; — the  Power  that  you  exert,  you  only  seem  to  exert ; — 
your  will  is  bound ;  of  that  power  you  are  only  the  agent, — ^you  are 
a  puppet,  and  although  you  feel  no  wires,  yet  they  are  there, — and 
you  are  a  puppet,  made  of  wood  and  leather,  completely  and 
entirely!"  Why  men  should  talk  in  this  way,  it  is  very  hard 
to  see. 

And  by  what  means  they  have  got  it  into  their  head  that  such 
notions,  which  make  of  man  a  mere  machine,  tend  to  exalt  the 
character  of  God !  is  stranger  still. 

But  the  persuasion  and  knowledge  of  man  that  he  can  act  by  a 
power  originating  in  his  Will,  is  a  sufficient  refutation  of  all  these 
specious  paradoxes.  The  fact  that  to  hold  them  does,  if  we  are 
consistent,  lead  at  once,  as  in  the  case  of  Diderot,  to  the  denial  of 
any  responsibility  and  to  the  destruction  of  all  moral  distinctions,* 
this  I  think  is  sufficient  to  exclude  them  from  being  held  by  any 
who  desire  to  think  of  man  as  a  moral  being. 

We  hold  then  that  man  is  no  mere  agent  and  instrument  of 
Power  through  whom  it  flows,  as  the  lever  is,  physically ;  that  he 
is  no  puppet  made  of  wood  and  pulled  by  a  wire  or  string,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  thinks  he  acts ;  that  he  is  not  a  part  of  a 
piece  of  machinery,  driven  by  the  same  force  as  the  rest,  and 
imagining  that  he  is  an  individual  being,  when  he  is  only  a 
wheel  or  pinion  of  one  machine;  we  believe  not  that  he  is  the 
agent  of  an  infinite  doom,  or  a  resistless  physical  law  that  actuates 
him  unconquerably.     This,  man  is  not. 

*  I  ask  honestly  and  calmly  of  any  thinking  man,  to  take  the  premises  of 
Diderot,  and  go  over  them,  and  he  shall  see  that  they  absolutely  infer  Dide- 
rot's conclusion,  that  is,  the  denial  of  all  morality,  and  the  freedom  unto  all 
vice  and  wickedness.  Fatalism,  held  consistently  and  acted  upon,  implies 
viciousness  of  life.  I  would  also  ask  the  same  person  to  go  over  the  ethical 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  to  ask  himself,  Do  not  these  doctrines  encou- 
rage morality  ?  Will  not  every  husband  and  wife,  every  father  and  mother, 
every  son  and  daughter,  who  attempts  to  go  earnestly  and  consistently  upon 
these  principles,  be  more  virtuous,  more  pure,  more  lovely  in  the  eyes  of  God 
and  of  man  7    Surely  it  is  and  must  be  so. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  373 

But  "made  in  the  image  of  God,"  as  God  has  of  himself 
power,  so  is  man  given  of  himself  to  have  power,  to  originate  it, 
to  apply  it :  it  is  a  faculty  of  his  being,  a  gift  that  God  has  given 
him  ;  originating  in  himself  freely,  apart  from  the  causal  neces- 
sity of  motive,  save  so  far  as  he  will  permit  himself  to  be  ruled  by 
the  Animal  Nature,  which  in  him  is  conjoined  with  the  Spiritual. 

The  first  objection  that  will  be  made  is, — Shall  not  this  then 
give  too  much  to  man  ?  is  not  man  then  made  a  God,  and  able  to 
do  precisely  as  he  will  ?  The  answer  to  this  I  have  given  in  the 
chapter  upon  Circumstance ;  and  there  it  will  be  seen,  that  while 
man  really  and  truly,  by  an  inward  force,  exerts  power,  yet  is 
there  another  personal  force  externally  applied,  that  controls  the 
result  in  a  very  remarkable  way, — a  power,  to  use  the  beautiful 
language  of  the  poet : 

"  That  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  them  as  we  may." 

Our  reader,  then,  will  see  that  strongly  soever  as  we  may  act, 
there  is,  external  to  us,  a  personal  Being,  gracious,  merciful,  and 
holy,  as  well  as  omnipotent,  who  guides  all  our  efforts  and  controls 
their  results,  not  according  to  doom  or  a  fatalistic  decree,  but  with 
the  all-seeing  wisdom  of  a  present  and  personal  Gfod. 

So  are  there  two  forces  that  guide  the  course  of  man's  life,  of 
which  two  it  is  the  resultant,  his  power  and  the  power  of  God, — 
and  this  gives,  as  the  practical  solution  of  the  question  of  Free- 
dom, this  answer :  "  When  the  two  powers  coincide  and  are  one 
completely  and  entirely,  then  is  the  man  free :  when  his  will,  in 
the  direction  that  he  spontaneously  gives  it,  coincides  with  the 
Will  of  God,  then  these  two  forces  become  one,  and  the  man  goes 
onward  entirely  and  completely  free  as  far  as  regards  effect  and 
power."  Then  his  own  power  from  himself  arising,  and  the  power 
and  operation  of  external  circumstance  so  unite,  that  the  waves 
that  ordinarily  do  oppose,  bear  him  onward,  the  winds  favour, 
and  all  things  outward  coincide  with  all  things  inward,  in  driving 
the  man  onward  upon  his  course. 

That  such  is  the  case  often,  the  experience  of  all  men  can  tell ; 
that  it  is  not  exclusively  the  case  with  the  good,  but  that  for  par- 
ticular purposes,  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Almighty,  such  a  power, 
and  such  a  direction  of  Will,  and  such  success  are  often  given  to 


374  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

the  evil,  is  the  experience  of  all  ages.*  And  the  meditative  wis- 
dom of  ancient  Greece  considered  such  invariable  success  in  those 
that  were  evil,  a  proof  of  Divine  wrath  and  jealousy,  and  pro- 
phetic of  utter  ruin.     And,  indeed,  such  it  often  is. 

With  regard  to  the  Christian  who  lives  in  Faith  fixed  upon  the 
Unseen,  according  to  the  law  of  grace,  he  shall  find  that  in  him, 
if  he  live  under  the  law  of  God's  grace,  that  his  Will  coinciding 
and  agreeing  with  God's  Will,  he  is  free  perfectly  and  completely, 
and  he  alone ;  Circumstances  may  not  yield  to  his  power,  but  may 
control  it ;  success  may  be  denied  to  his  best  eflTorts,  prosperity 
may  not  be  granted,  yet  let  him  bind  his  Will  to  that  of  Cfod,  and 
therein  he  shall  find  Freedom.  And  more  than  this.  Providence 
protecting  him,  with  the  invisible  foresight  of  omniscience,  from 
perils  which  himself  could  not  have  avoided ;  sheltering  him  from 
accidents  no  power  of  his  own  could  ward  oflf,  no  subtlety  escape; 
upholding  him  with  the  mind  of  a  father,  staying  and  guiding  the 
steps  of  a  feeble  infant ;  and  correcting  and  destroying,  by  the 
action  of  circumstance,  faults  that  he  himself  could  never  become 
conscious  of: — almighty  power,  omniscient  wisdom,  infinite  mer- 
cy ; — these  thus  wait  upon  and  belong  unto  that  man  who,  in  cove- 
nant with  Grod,  rules  and  guides  his  Will  according  to  the  Will 
of  the  Eternal,  the  Law  of  Holiness  and  Grace ! 

He  is  free  in  thought  and  act,  free  in  the  power  of  Grace 
through  Jesus  Christ !  and  to  him,  thus  perfect,  and  to  him  alone, 
his  nature  fulfils  its  intended  purposes.  To  him  the  external 
world  is  that  which  to  all  men  it  should  be.  •  And  Society,  in 
reference  to  him,  exerts  its  complete  efiect  as  a  school  of  teaching. 
All  things  internal  and  all  things  external  coincide ;  inward  Na- 
ture and  outward  Circumstance  are  brought  into  that  harmony  of 

*  Often  this  etern  energy  of  Will  and  the  invariable  success  attending  it  are 
wondered  at,  and  attributed  to  the  man  by  all  around  him,  and  even  by  him- 
self, when  it  is  a  truth,  that  the  vessel  is  only  in  the  current  of  Almighty 
power,  sweeping  onward  to  a  certain  point,  as  a  vessel  of  deserved  wrath,  or 
laden  with  mercy.  And  succeeding  ages  begin  to  see,  when  the  results  have 
unfolded  themselves  in  History,  that  behind  the  man  lay  the  purpose  of  God, 
— behind  his  Will,  the  almighty  Will  of  the  omniscient  God.  The  thought  is 
gradually  unfolding  itself,  especially  in  respect  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon; 
men  are  beginning  to  see  how  uses  and  ends  in  the  policy  of  the  world  that 
he  never  intended,  have  come  forth  from  his  strong  will  set  firmly  toward  selfish 
ends,  and  wholly  unconscious  of  the  power  that  lay  behind  him,  and  of  the 
issues  that  were  in  the  future. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  375 

action  and  reaction  that  ought  to  exist  between  them,  and  the 
man  is  free.  And  this  is  not,  as  I  have  said,  of  himself  or  by  him- 
self, but  the  nature  of  man  is  harmonized  with  the  sphere  of 
external  circumstance  only  by  Grace.  And  the  height  and  com- 
pletion of  this  is,  that  his  Will  should  be  under  the  Will  of  God, 
perfectly  and  entirely  obedient  to  it,  in  its  three  faculties  of 
Choice,  of  Purpose,  and  of  Action.  Upon  these  three  we  have 
treated,  and  this  completes  our  discussion  of  the  Will. 


GENERAL  CONCLUDING  REMARKS. 

We  have  now  brought  our  work  to  a  conclusion.  The  Affec- 
tions we  have  treated  upon  in  two  books.  The  Affections  in 
the  Nation, — this  we  might  have  discussed  in  another  book,  but 
it  would  have  made  the  volume  too  large.  And  Law  in  the  Na- 
tion is  to  one  part  of  Ethics  what  Religion  in  the  Church  is  to 
another  division  of  the  same  science,  the  completion  of  it ;  Law 
is  the  objective  and  external  science,  which  is  the  completion  of 
the  Ethical  discussion :  the  sum,  therefore  of  that  which  we  would 
have  said  would  have  been  these  two  practical  precepts :  "  Obey 
the  Law  at  all  risks,  and  in  every  way  uphold  it  and  support  it, 
and  give  it  in  the  State  the  supremacy  over  all  Self-will."  And 
secondly,  "  Do  your  best  that  it  may  come  as  near  the  Eternal 
Law  of  the  Almighty,  that  which  is  written  upon  Man's  heart  inter- 
nally, and  manifested  by  God  externally,  as  may  be," — these  two 
and  their  reasons  in  man's  nature  and  position,  would  have  afford- 
ed a  wide  field.  We  give  the  precepts,  and  omit  the  Ethical 
illustrations  and  development,  for  the  reasons  above  given. 

The  Affections  in  the  Church, — this  we  have  also  omitted, 
for  a  reason  very  plain  indeed ;  it  leads  us  directly  into  the  dis- 
cussion of  "Spiritual  Ethics,"  or  of  "Practical  Christianity," 
that  is,  of  the  Ethics  that  ensues  from  the  peculiar  position  of 
Human  Nature  in  Covenant  with  God.  The  Ethics  of  a  human 
being  endued  with  this  high  privilege,  placed  in  this  lofty  position, 
while  manifestly  it  is  not  opposite  to  that  of  the  man  who  is 


376  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

of  Nature  only,  not  of  Grace ;  has  only  the  capabilities,  instead 
of  the  gifts,  but  is  the  crowning  and  completion  of  it, — is 
still  something  infinitely  higher  and  infinitely  more  perfect.  As 
the  stately  palm  in  the  desert,  crowned  with  its  diadem  of  leaves 
at  once,  and  flowers  and  fruit,  is  to  the  date  borne  in  the  hand  of 
the  wandering  Arab,  so  is  the  true  Science  of  the  Christian  Life 
to  the  loftiest  and  truest  philosophy  of  Nature  apart  from  Grace. 
In  both  cases,  it  is  true,  the  germ  exists  the  same,  but  in  the  latter 
the  influences  are  wanting  that  shall  develope  it. 

That  germ  in  the  case  of  the  natural  man,  the  Spiritual  Nature 
that  is  in  him  existing,  which  renders  him  capable  of  Grace,  I 
have  in  this  book  treated  of.  Spiritual  Ethics,  the  Ethics  of  Man 
in  Covenant  with  God,  is  a  distinct  and  higher  part  of  the  same 
science,  and  is  practical  Christianity.  At  some  future  time  in 
the  ripeness  of  maturer  years,  and  by  the  light  of  fuller  know- 
ledge, I  may  enter  upon  the  examination  of  this  loftier  science. 

In  the  mean  time  I  would  say,  upon  these  elements,  in  this  book 
developed,  even  this  depends:  just  as  the  highest  Astronomy 
takes  for  granted  the  humbler  science  of  elementary  Geometry, 
— so  the  highest  Christian  philosophy  is  founded  upon  these  doc- 
trines of  Man's  Nature, — these  that  bring  forth  and  manifest  its 
adaptedness  to  all  external  influences,  to  Society,  to  the  system 
of  God's  Providence,  and  of  his  Creation,  and  through  all  these 
means  to  the  Infinite  and  Eternal  God  himself !  And  the  reli- 
gion that  denies  or  falsifies  these  truths  may,  by  adventitious 
circumstances,  remain  for  a  time,  but  it  is  about  to  perish  and  be 
taken  away.  The  true  doctrines  of  the  Internal  Nature  of  Man 
jind  of  his  Position,  are  the  very  elements  of  all  practical  reli- 
gion, even  of  the  loftiest. 

I  must  now,  in  all  justice  to  my  reader,  tell  him  that  the  system 
I  have  here  laid  before  him  is  not  a  system  of  my  own,  invented 
by  myself,  but  that  it  is  the  Ethical  Science  of  the  first  Christians, 
as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  distinguish  and  feel  it.  This  I  have, 
as  it  were,  translated  into  the  thought  of  our  age  and  time,  out  of 
the  thought  of  men  of  different  ages  and  different  times.  That 
is,  I  have  attempted  to  present,  in  a  scientific  form,  as  a  system, 
before  the  ordinary  reader,  the  Ethics  of  Christianity,  as  held  by 
the  church  unbroken,  before  the  ambition  of  Rome  and  the  prag- 
matical spirit  of  Constantinople  had  rent  the  church  in  two.  For 
much  as  men  may  have  forgotten  the  idea,  there  was  a  time,  and 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  377 

that  time  lasted  for  ten  centuries,  •when  the  church  was  one. 
This  Ethics  of  the  church  undivided,  I  have  then  attempted  to 
present  to  the  men  of  this  age  and  this  time. 

I  have  not  said  all  I  could  say  upon  each  point,  only  that  which 
I  counted  enough  to  convince,  and  therefore  the  reader  or  teacher 
will  often  find  a  multitude  of  confirmatory  arguments  and  facts 
capable  of  being  adduced,  which  I  have  not  adduced.  To  the 
teacher,  this  will  be  a  good  exercise  of  teaching, — to  the  reader, 
of  thought.  But  I  have  been  forced  to  omit  a  multitude  of  such 
things,  even  thoughts  and  facts  that  were  to  me  most  delightful, 
and  which  I  was  convinced  would  be  to  the  reader  very  interest- 
ing. The  nature  of  the  science  as  "Subjective,"  resting  for  a 
good  part  of  its  proof  upon  the  self-experience  of  the  man  and 
of  the  race,  will  sufficiently  account  for  this. 

I  would  now,  as  respects  my  readers,  address  to  them  a  few 
words  in  reference  to  the  book  and  its  results  upon  them.  If  the 
reader  who  has  gone  thus  far  is  contented  with  it,  thinks  that  it 
gives  a  sufficient  and  satisfactory  account  of  Human  Nature,  its 
problems,  and  their  solution,  in  the  first  place  I  claim  from  him 
no  praise,  personally,  in  this  book.  I  profess  to  present  the  Ethics 
of  the  Ancient  Church.  Augustine,  Athanasius,  Cyril,  Cyprian, 
Origen,  TertuUian,  these  men  whom  every  puny  writer  of  the  present 
day  thinks  himself  privileged  to  scorn  at, — these  are  the  sources 
from  which  I  have  obtained  the  principles  here  presented  in  a 
connected  form, — men  who,  often  by  the  meditation  of  a  whole 
life  of  holiness  and  self-denial,  thought  out  and  established  for 
ever  the  Christian  solution  of  a  single  one  of  the  problems  of 
nature  herein  discussed !  These  results  the  theologian  will  often 
discern  in  these  pages,  given  in  a  few  lines,  while,  in  the  original, 
volumes  hardly  embrace  their  discussion.  For  myself,  therefore, 
I  claim  no  praise  of  originality  or  of  genius ;  but  that  one,  of  bring- 
ing again  before  the  world,  in  a  shape  to  every  one  tangible,  the 
Ethical  Science  of  Apostolic  Christianity,  undivided  and  at 
unity  with  itself. 

So  far,  with  regard  to  myself,  I  have  said  to  him,  who  has  thus 
far  read  the  treatise,  with  satisfaction ;  now,  with  regard  to  him- 
self, I  say,  if  he  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  these  principles, 
let  him  not  for  a  moment  abide  in  a  barren  philosophy,  but  act 
upon  the  principles  herein  laid  down.    Let  him  begin  to  cultivate 

his  Spiritual  Inward  Nature  at  all  risks,  and  under  all  pain  and 

48 


378  CHBISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

loss  to  make  it  the  ruling  and  supreme  governor  of  his  action, — 
it  as  perfected  and  aided  by  the  external  influences,  through 
which  alone  it  can  be  complete  in  its  functions  and  in  its  action. 
This  he  must  do,  if  he  would  draw  the  proper  advantage  from 
this  book ;  and  the  book  itself  in  its  several  parts,  I  believe,  will 
be  found  to  contain  directions  for  this  mode  of  action.  So  far 
with  regard  to  moral  Self-cultivation. 

And  if,  with  regard  to  himself,  he  has  found  these  principles 
of  the  Science  of  ancient  €hristianity  efficient,  I  would  most 
vehemently  urge  upon  him  to  exemplify  them  in  the  family,  the 
Home  wherein,  by  God's  decree,  he  has  been  placed,  not  to  live 
as  an  unit,  an  individual,  but  as  part  of  a  divinely  appointed 
institution.  In  the  Home,  then,  I  would  urge  the  Father,  the 
Mother,  the  Sister,  the  Brother,  to  live  up  to  and  distinctly  to 
exemplify  the  principles  herein  laid  down ;  for,  too  much  has  it 
been  forgotten,  that  the  Home  is,  for  those  within  it,  a  sphere 
peculiar  and  exclusive,  wherein  there  is  for  its  members  a  pecu- 
liar religious  and  moral  work  to  do,  which  there  can  he  done  and 
nowhere  else,  by  them  and  hy  no  one  else.  There  is  moral  teach- 
ing, "with  which  no  man  meddleth,"  as  well  as  sorrow  and  joy, 
exclusive  of  those  that  are  without. 

But,  moreover,  I  would  urge  the  person  who  has  read  this 
attempt  toward  a  Christian  science,  and  approves  of  it  for  him- 
self and  for  his  family,  to  put  it  into  the  hand  of  the  growing 
and  intelligent  youth  with  whom  he  is  acquainted.  The  expe- 
rience of  the  writer  tells  him,  that  for  those  especially  who,  in 
childhood  and  youth,  have  been  neglected  by  parents,  untrained 
in  the  holy  teachings  of  the  gospel,  there  is  a  period  wherein  all 
the  problems  "  of  our  nature  and  of  our  position"  rush  up  and 
demand  a  solution ;  and  the  youth  then  is  in  great  doubt ;  his 
nature  demands  a  true  answer ;  and,  alas !  so  false  is  the  ordinary 
Ethics  of  Christianity,  that  but  seldom  that  true  answer  is  given. 
Hence  are  multitudes  in  our  land  Non-professors,  for  the  want  of 
a  true  Christian  philosophy  of  man's  Nature  and  his  Position. 
This  the  author  has  tried  to  give,  not  as  his  own,  but  as  that  of 
the  old  Christian  church.  If  the  reader,  then,  clerical  or  lay, 
finds  then,  that,  even  in  a  degree,  this  book  answers  that  want, 
the  author  would  ask  of  him,  whithersoever  this  hooh  may  wander, 
to  bring  it  into  the  hands  of  thoughtful  and  serious  youth,  who 
are  in  that  crisis  of  life  alluded  to. 


THE  HUMAN  WILL.  879 

And,  with  this  remark,  the  author  will  bid  his  reader  God 
speed.  He  has  now  come  to  the  end  of  a  laborious  work,  which 
he  felt  to  be  needed.  He  has  worked  upon  it  sincerely  and 
ardently,  for  he  knew  of  no  book  embracing  the  subjects  treated 
upon  herein,  so  as  to  be  accessible  to  the  mass  of  readers,  and  at 
the  same  time  pleasing  to  them.  How  he  has  succeeded  time 
will  tell ;  but  if  the  reader  feels  that  the  author  has  so  far  suc- 
ceeded as  to  supply,  even  in  a  small  degree,  the  great  want  of  a 
book  upon  these  subjects,  the  author  would  ask  of  him,  not  to  let 
the  hooJc  rest  upon  his  shelves,  hut  to  bring  it  hefore  the  notice 
of  those  to  whom  it  is  likely  to  he  of  service. 

And,  if  the  author  has  not  succeeded,  at  least,  he  has  at- 
tempted that  which  must  one  day  or  other  he  done, — the  answer- 
ing truly,  according  to  the  sentiment  of  the  Ancient  Church,  the 
problems  that  arise  in  the  mind  of  all  men  born  upon  the  earth. 
He  has  felt  that  one  great  want  of  Christianity,  at  this  day,  is 
the  want  of  a  true  Christian  Ethics,  and  in  his  measure,  accord- 
ing to  his  ability,  has  done  his  best  to  supply  it.  And  if  he  have 
not  succeeded,  still  to  have  felt  the  want,  to  have  known  where- 
from  it  could  be  supplied,  and  to  have  laboured  towards  that  end 
sincerely,  is  enough. 

But  he  has  better  hopes,  that  this  his  book  will  be  found  to 
give  true  answers  to  these  questions,  according  to  the  plan  pro- 
posed, to  remove  the  difficulties  that  have  hitherto  kept  away 
multitudes  from  Christianity,  to  satisfy  objections,  and  to  hold  up 
the  clear  light  of  Christian  philosophy  upon  the  dark  and  dubi- 
ous problems  which  so  perplex,  in  this  day,  all  men,  and  especially 
the  young. 

And  this  if  he  have  done  in  one  case, — if  he  have  cleared  the 
path  of  one  from  the  obstructions  that  a  Heathen  Philosophy 
places  in  the  way  of  men  "who  would  enter  in," — if  he  thus, 
from  the  way  of  one  individual,  has  been  efficient  to  remove  "  an 
offence,"  the  author  has  faith  to  believe,  that  in  the  final  account 
he  shall  not  be  without  his  due  reward.  With  this  hope  he  bids 
his  reader  God  speed. 


THE  END. 


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BY   ARCHDEACON   WILBERFORCE. 
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BY  ARCHDEACON  WILBERFORCE. 

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BY  RICHARD  CHENEVIX  TRENCH. 

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BEING  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  SECOND  CHAPTER  OF  ST.  MATTHEW. 
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BY  THE  RIGHT   RET.   GEORGE  BURGESS,  S.  D. 

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